Much has been written – and probably even more has been said – about the different consequences of the Brexit vote. This is hardly a surprise: the decision is a first in the history of the European Union, and despite the existence of the nowadays (in?) famous Article 50, one still has trouble understanding how…
A considerable increase of transfer pricing disputes could be observed in Italy over the last decade. Notwithstanding the rising trend of proceedings activated by the Tax Authorities and further scrutinized by the Italian Courts, there is not – to date – a jurisprudential orientation such to provide the interpreter with the necessary guidance in the…
If the UK leaves the EU, this would have immediate consequences for direct taxation.[1] We saw in the first post that the EU fundamental freedoms, EU provisions on State aid and EU directives and regulations (also those on direct taxation) would automatically cease to apply to the UK. Referring back to the second post on…
On 24 August 2016, the US Treasury Department issued a White Paper on “The European Commission’s Recent State Aid Investigations of Transfer Pricing Rules” (the “White Paper”), denouncing the Commission’s “new approach” as “an unforeseeable departure from the status quo” whose retroactive application “would be inconsistent with EU legal principles” and “undermine the G20’s efforts…
The post-BEPS international tax scenario is in transition to a much more inter-nation equitable system, where the national tax base will be much better protected against erosion and profit-shifting corporate manipulations than it was in pre-BEPS times. The international tax system, however, is not yet stable,[1] and despite OECD’s efforts to uniform national responses within…
A thought-provoking and insightful series of papers on taxpayer rights have just been published in the latest edition of The Tax Lawyer,[1] published by the American Bar Association Section of Taxation. These papers were presented at the inaugural International Conference on Taxpayer rights held in Washington, DC in November 2015, initiated by Nina Olson, National…
To withdraw from the European Union, the EU and the UK will need to negotiate a “divorce agreement” (see our first post here). Following this, a so-called Second Agreement could be negotiated between the EU and the UK. This new agreement will deal with trade relations between the EU and the UK. In this post…
“Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?” – Brothers Grimm, “Snow White” Where it all started Tax evolved like many things in the world we experience today. Taxes were already levied during the various reins of the Egyptian Pharaohs. The earliest taxes in Rome were customs duties on imports and exports…
the world is full of black and grey hat tax administrations. The U.S. has the opportunity to leverage its power as the world’s safe (tax) haven for bi-lateral information exchange as a carrot – stick policy tool to clean them up, and move them to become white hat, best practices tax administrations.
The divorce agreement and future gaps in UK law Divorces are never easy. What will happen after the Brexit? Nobody knows yet. From a legal perspective, article 50 of the Treaty on European Union (TEU) is of main importance now. That article paves the way for the UK to withdraw from the EU by means…
Volume 44 (2016) issue 6/7 contains: EDITORIAL: Ana Paula DOURADO, ‘The EU Anti Tax Avoidance Package: Moving Ahead of BEPS?’ ARTICLES: Félix Daniel MARTINEZ LAGUNA, ‘Institutional Hybrid Financial Instruments and Double Non-taxation under Domestic Rules and Tax Treaty Law: The Example of Spain’ Abstract: Attention has been paid to double non-taxation resulting from contractual hybrid…
Volume 25 (2016) issue 3 contains: EDITORIAL: Bruno PEETERS, ‘Tax Shifts in EU-Member States: The Growing Impact of (Shifting) Recommendations by the European Commission on National Tax Policy’ ARTICLES: Aitor NAVARRO, Leopoldo PARADA, Paloma SCHWARZ, ‘The Proposal for an EU Anti-avoidance Directive: Some Preliminary Thoughts’ Abstract: On 28 January 2016, the European Commission made…
On May 10, 2016, the Indian Finance Ministry announced that a new protocol has been finalized to amend certain provisions of the Indo-Mauritius double taxation avoidance agreement. According to a press release issued by the Finance Ministry, the protocol is aimed at tackling the dual problem of treaty shopping and round tripping of funds, besides…
Back in April this year, my contribution on the Panama Papers scandal started by saying that: “Massive leaks of information on offshore activity like the Panama Papers illustrate the need for enhanced global tax cooperation with an improved and deeper inter-jurisdictional information sharing scheme.”[1] It is not now my intention to follow the subsequent episodes…
