“When the map and the territory don’t agree, always believe the territory” Gause and Weinberg – describing Swedish Army Training Easier said than done Tax risk management in Africa reminds me of how the first explorers having to navigate the new world must have felt. Not having any decent maps and often creating their own…
The taxation of MNEs is widely debated. This is even more so with respect to MNE’s tax planning arrangements. Increasingly, however, it seems that politicians and the media are not paying enough attention to facts in the debate. Recently we have witnessed examples in my home country of this tendency. These examples are the reason…
On 11 February 2015 a US District Court found that the US Internal Revenue Service disclosed false tax return information to the Japanese National Tax Administration contrary to the Japan-US tax treaty in Aloe Vera of America Incorporated, et al. v. United States of America (Case No. CV-99-01794-PHX-JAT). The IRS had supplied information showing a…
The OECD Public Discussion Draft on BEPS Action 14 (released on 18 December 2014) covers extensively dispute resolution mechanisms and ways to make them more effective. The subject has grown in importance as Mutual Agreement Procedures (“MAP”) have increased significantly especially on transfer pricing cross border adjustments. In this context, the BEPS Discussion Draft states…
On 14 August 2014 the Philippines Court of Tax Appeals (“CTA”) decided case no. 1041 regarding Goodyear. However, the underlying issue was already decided in March 2013 by the same court in case no. 8188. I first discuss both cases before giving my impressions. Case No. 8188 The facts First, a summary of the timeline…
If time allows, I try to contribute to the OECD discussions submitting comments to their draft papers. Last November and December 2014, the OECD came out with several drafts for discussion (this earlier article tries to summarize them briefly). After reading more than 600 pages of documents during the week of Christmas holiday, I decided…
General Introduction From 1 July 2014, U.S. withholding agents have imposed, with very limited exceptions, the new Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Chapter 4 withholding (a.k.a. FATCA) of 30 percent on ‘withholdable’ payments to foreign financial institutions (FFIs) that do not appear on the IRS’ published GIIN list. However, U.S. Treasury delayed the imposition of the…
I would like to use eight to ten posts to discuss the status quo of China’s fiscal and taxation law system and proposals for reform thereto. This first post will discuss the most recent development on PRC Budget Law. State budget is a systematic tool to carry out a country’s laws and policy decisions, balance allocable…
Uncertainty “When nothing is sure, everything is possible” – Margaret Drabble So often when people find out that I travel to Africa, the first thing I am asked is whether I ever feel unsafe. My answer is always that I am as careful as I would be travelling to any other part of the world….
2015 is full of new legislations to be applied by Brazilian companies, and investors should definitely wait for more changes in the tax arena, as the Brazilian Federal Government has had problems of deficit in public accounts. One of the most important laws relates to regulation of IFRS effects for tax purposes. Basically, law no….
The current global tax landscape changes fast and it is not difficult to find a topic for a blog. Do I start with the G20 angle for raising revenue, with the intra-country tax competition, with the BEPS project that surely will not deliver what the hard working staff of OECD expect? Or do I start…
An issue of topical interest for tax administrations in the heat of the BEPS Plan, examining the existence of a PE does not seem to be on the agenda of Brazilian authorities. In a ruling from June, 2014, the Revenue Service confirmed the long-standing Brazilian treaty practice of taxing income from services at source irrespective…
The OECD Joint Working Group on Business Restructurings is, in many respects, the precursor to the OECD BEPS project. Unresolved Business Restructuring issues, particularly in relation to permanent establishments, have appeared on the BEPS agenda. One question asked by the Joint Working Group was: Can an agency PE exist if the arrangements entered into did…
It is well known that the world’s economies have turned into a global economy during the last decades. Moreover, it is nowadays common knowledge – also outside the professional tax community – that states are fighting each other for tax revenue, while multinationals are trying to reduce their tax burden through tax planning that may…
