This contribution is aimed at surveying the interaction and reciprocal influence between the OECD-G20 BEPS Action Plan (the BEPS Plan), on one hand, and contemporary tax developments occurred in the Latin American (LATAM) region, particularly those geared to counteract base eroding and profit shifting moves by multinational enterprises (MNEs), on the other. At first glance,…

Tax treaty rules to resolve the dual residence of persons other than individuals have been consistent since the 1963 OECD draft convention. Such dual residence in resolved by Article 4(3) of the OECD and UN Model Treaties in favour of the place of effective management. Only a very few states have noted reservations on this…

The ministers signed a Supplementary Agreement (SA) amending the French-German Double Taxation Convention. The SA simplifies the taxation for pensioners by attributing the exclusive taxing right for pension payments from statutory social insurance to the resident state of the beneficiary of these payments. In return Germany and France agreed to mutually sustain the other side’s…

The claim for the so-called “single taxation principle”, in spite of its doubtful general acceptance, seems to have been acknowledged by the OECD, which has moved from a position whereby countries should explicitly state the limits of the application of tax treaties in case of abuse, to an opposite view ascertaining that tax treaty protection…

Reform Path Forward for China’s Tax Law Reform   The observation on the current fiscal and tax system helps China to improve and execute a profound tax system to realize goals proposed in The Decision as well as tackling new challenges arising therefrom. Fiscal and tax policies do not stand alone and must follow the…

GIIN Lists Analysis: June 2014 through April 2015 April’s global GIIN registrations, like March, were unimpressive.  Financial institution GIIN total registrations ticked up from an unimpressive 2,479 additional ones in March to 3,734 in April, bringing the ultimate GIIN count to 160,010 from the March result of 156,276.  The 112 IGA signatories, and IGA agreements…

Let’s go back a few weeks, to March 18, 2015. The EU Commission announces its much heralded Tax Transparency package. The package contains a surprise element: the link to the Code of Conduct Report of 1999. To refresh memories: this report, lead by a UK national, contained 66 harmful tax measures. The 66 could be…

On April 8th, the Labour Party has pledged to abolish the British preferential tax rules for non-domiciled individuals (non-doms), should it win the general election on May 7th. This long overdue move would be a big step towards equitable tax treatment of individuals, notably in the Common Market in Europe. If individuals had been included…

After the first post on BEPS, I decided to go laterally and approach an issue that may resonate to many tax practitioners but unfortunately is not so widely discussed perhaps because of its interdisciplinary impacts – what are the consequences and limits for this “rush” towards massification of tax information data retrieval and exchange. We…

The world is following with attention the developments of one of the major all-time corruption scandals, involving one of the symbols of the Brazilian economy, Petrobras. If it was not enough fuzz, now the Federal tax authorities are facing another problem, which is rumor of corruption within the Administrative Court of Federal Tax Appeals (“CARF”)….

It is well known that case law from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) imposes limitations on the application of anti-avoidance rules by Member States. Accordingly, it is of vital importance that recommendations made under the OECD project on base erosion on profit shifting (the BEPS project), are adaptable, where necessary, to enable Member States…

In July 2013, the OECD published its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, aimed at ensuring the coherence of corporate income taxation at the international level. Action 3 of the Plan stressed the need to address base erosion and profit shifting through CFC rules, since then existing domestic CFC rules do not always…

When internationally mobile workers retire, they look to Art 18 of the OECD Model tax treaty to determine their tax treatment if they are private sector workers. Government workers look to Art 19. What about employees of international organisations? Although international civil servants, they work for no government and are outside Art 19. Commonly, treaties…