Cornerstone of modern tax systems is the somehow forgotten axiom that taxpayers need to consent to the taxes imposed by governments. This may sound peculiar in an era where political correctness dictates that certain taxpayers do not pay their “fair (?) share” of taxes, although they do comply to tax laws in force; in this…
Consider this. Formula One World Championship Limited UK (Formula One) entered into a Race Promotion Contract (RPC) with Jaypee Sports International Limited (Jaypee), an Indian entity, under which Jaypee was granted the right to host, stage, and promote a motor racing event in India. Buddh International Racing Circuit located in the Indian state of Uttar…
On 24 April 2017 the Indian Supreme Court held that Formula One World Championship Ltd, the holder of the commercial rights to the Formula One Grand Prix, had a permanent establishment in India at the Buddh International Circuit where the event was held in 2011, 2012 and 2013. The Supreme Court concluded that the UK…
In March 2017, the OECD and the IMF published a report on tax uncertainty (Report) confirming that such uncertainty exists and impacts on business and investment. Similar was the outcome of an earlier survey one year ago by the Oxford University Centre for Business Taxation: Measuring Corporation Tax Uncertainty Across Countries. The issue is of…
Foreign enterprises for the purpose of Indian Income Tax (IT) Act are enterprises that are incorporated outside India or that do not have their place of effective management in India (as per new section 6 of IT Act, effective from April 2017). Section 5(2) read with section 4 of the IT Act provides that the…
I was recently asked to analyze the often quoted figure of $150 billion lost by the U.S. Treasury to foreign non-tax compliance by U.S. taxpayers. My transcribed remarks are below. Also, see William Byrnes’ Guide to FATCA & CRS Compliance (Matthew Bender 5th ed., 2017) at pp. 30, 33-34, 50, 59, 109-112, and 119-122. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2926119 How…
General On February 9, 2017, the Court of Justice of the European Union (‘CJEU’) rendered its decision in the X v Staatssecretaris van Financiën (‘X’). The case concerned the possibility of applying the Schumacker doctrine to a non-resident taxpayer in the situation where he earned almost all his income not in one but in several…
In a 207 page opinion the Tax Court ruled March 23, 2017 that the IRS’s adjustment with respect to Amazon.Inc’s transfer pricing buy-in payment for an intragroup cost sharing agreement (CSA) is arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable [1]. Another major blow for the IRS in a string of such losses starting with VERITAS [2] (2009), the 2010 Xilinx [3] about-face…
In quantum physics, nothing is certain, particles are not to be found at one point but within waves of probabilities and connected particles can mirror each other faster than the speed of light because there is no transfer of information. Agency PE’s threaten to become the quantum physics of taxation. Introduction But let us get…
If there was ever a need to demonstrate the need to improve international tax dispute resolution mechanisms, it was as a speaker at the TP Minds conference earlier this month. In the course of our panel discussion on dispute resolution post BEPS, I asked the audience of over 100 tax directors and managers of multinational…
Introduction and EU law applicable On 8 March 2017 the Court of Justice of the European Union (hereafter “CJ”) delivered its decision in the Case C-448/15, Wereldhave, dealing with the interpretation of the “subject to tax” requirement provided for the application of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive (both Directive 90/435/EEC and Directive 2011/96/EU). Under article 1(1) of Directive…
Lower energy cost is a major factor for U.S. manufacturers … to be able to offer on par production costs to China, and 10 percent to 20 percent lower costs than European manufacture. I’ve been remiss in my blogging since the surprise victory of the presidential election. It is not because I think the apocalypse…
On 16 February 2017 the Public Consultation on the proposed introduction of rules at EU level to disincentivize promotion of aggressive tax planning schemes was closed. The rules under consideration focus on a Mandatory Disclosure Regime (MDR) – referred to also as a Disclosure of Tax Avoidance Schemes (DOTAS) regime. Under such rules, tax advisers…
The Italian Supreme Court issued a landmark case (n. 27113 December 2016) setting out the principles to be taken into account when analyzing whether a company can be deemed the “beneficial owner” for the purpose of being entitled to double tax treaty benefits. In particular, the Italian Supreme Court examined whether a company resident for…
