E Commerce And Source Based Income Taxation

The advent of electronic commerce has caused many to question the continued viability of sourced-based taxation. Characteristics of electronic commerce include the expected reduction in the need for certain intermediaries in the business process, as well as the borderless and intangible nature of the Internet, which allows a business to earn income without it having to maintain a physical presence in the market territory. In light of these characteristics it is not difficult to see how arguments calling for the abandonment of source-based taxation continue to be raised. While this book accepts these observations as being valid, nevertheless it will be argued by its author that source-based taxation is theoretically justifiable for income that arises from international transactions that are conducted in an electronic commerce environment. However, it will also be argued that the way in which the source of income is defined needs to be reconceptualized because the application of source-based taxation under traditional principles may be rendered problematic in light of certain characteristics of electronic commerce that are significant from a tax perspective.

In its most advanced form, e-commerce allows unidentified purchasers to pay obscure vendors in 'electronic cash' for products that are often goods, services and licenses all rolled into one. This book considers the implications for the domestic and international tax systems of the growth of e-commerce. It covers a wide variety of activities, from discussion of the principles governing direct and indirect taxation, to explanation of the implementation and use of e-commerce on the part of businesses as well as the application of existing tax principles in this field. With its focus on the broader issues surrounding the expansion of e-commerce and its attention to the problems arising internationally in this field, Global Perspectives in E-Commerce Taxation Law will appeal to scholars worldwide.

Digital commerce – the use of computer networks to facilitate transactions involving the production, distribution, sale, and delivery of goods and services – has grown from merely streamlining relations between consumer and business to a much more robust phenomenon embracing efficient business processes within a firm and between firms. Inevitably, the related taxation issues have grown as well. This latest edition of the preeminent text on the taxation of digital transactions revises, updates and expands the book’s coverage. It includes a detailed and up-to-date analysis of income tax and VAT developments regarding digital commerce under the OECD and G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) reforms. It explores the implications of digital commerce for US state sales and use tax regimes resulting from the 2018 US Supreme Court decision in Wayfair. It discusses cross-border tax in the United States while continuing to focus on tax developments throughout the world. Analysing the practical tax consequences of digital commerce from a multijurisdictional perspective, and using examples to illustrate the application of different taxes to digital commerce transactions, the book offers in-depth treatment of such topics as the following: how tax rules governing cross-border digital commerce are increasingly applied to all cross-border activities; how tax rules and institutional processes have evolved to confront challenges posed by digital commerce; how an emerging ‘tax war’ is developing whereby different countries are unilaterally imposing new tax rules on cross-border digital commerce; how technology enhances tax and cross-border tax information exchanges; how technology reduces both compliance and enforcement costs; cross-border consumption tax issues raised by cloud computing; and different approaches to the legal design of VAT place of taxation rules. The authors offer insightful views on the likely development of new approaches to taxing cross-border digital commerce. This edition, while building on the analysis of the relationship between traditional tax laws and the Internet in the first edition and its predecessors, contains a more explicit and systematic consideration of digital commerce issues and the ongoing policy responses to them. Tax professionals and academics everywhere will welcome the important contribution it makes towards the design of cross-border tax rules that are both conceptually sound and practical in application. ‘A tour de force … much larger and richer than its predecessors … a massive contribution to the growing literature on the taxation of e-commerce.’ – Rita de la Feria, British Tax Review ‘Provides important understandings for ongoing policy discussions … I would warmly recommend.’ – P. Rendahl, World Journal of VAT/GST Law

This book focuses on the impact of technology on taxation and deals with the broad effect of technology on diverse taxation systems. It addresses the highly relevant eTax issue and argues that while VAT may not be the ultimate solution with regard to taxing electronic commerce, it can be demonstrated to be the most effective solution to date. The book analyzes the application and the effectiveness of traditional income tax principles in contradistinction to VAT principles. Taking into account rapidly ameliorating technology, the book next assesses the compatibility between electronic commerce and diverse systems of taxation. Using case studies of Amazon.com and Second Life as well as additional practical examples, the book demonstrates the effectiveness of VAT in respect of electronic commerce and ameliorating technology in the incalculable and borderless realm of cyberspace.

Electronic commerce by its very innovative nature has engendered a novel application of past precedents. In the application of concepts of cross border taxation, it embraces traditional questions of source and resident taxation. Initially these principles were developed domestically. What has transpired in the development has been an evolution of the Due Process and commerce clauses of the United States. This evolution of constitutional considerations resulted because electronic commerce made for a complex determination of which domestic state had jurisdiction to tax electronic commerce. It brushed up against precedent notions of how the Due Process and Commerce Clause had been analyzed in terms of activities sourced and effects upon those whose borders are crossed. Keywords: ECommerce, Taxation, Commerce Clause, Due Process, Trade or Business, Permanent Establishment, Treaty.

This volume provides a comprehensive guide to the status of the OECD-led international work on taxation and electronic commerce, and hence to emerging conclusions and recommendations across a wide span of tax policy and tax administration issues.

The advent of electronic commerce has caused many to question the continued viability of sourced-based taxation. This thesis argues that source-based taxation is theoretically justifiable for income that arises from international transactions which are conducted in an electronic commerce environment.

Electronic Commerce and Multi-Jurisdictional Taxation (2001) is the successor to the widely-acclaimed Electronic Commerce and International Taxation (1999). The new edition contains expanded and enhanced consideration of the tax treatment of electronic commerce from both an income tax and a consumption tax perspective. Not only does the new edition provide a detailed and up-to-date analysis of VAT developments regarding e-commerce, but it also explores the implications of e-commerce for the US state and local sales and use tax regime. It discusses developments in Europe and the United States while enlarging its focus to include the tax treatment of e-commerce in China, India, Canada, Australia, and throughout the world. At the same time, the authors have deftly woven the latest OECD and European Community developments into the fabric of the book. There is no other book on the market today that analyzes the practical tax consequences of e-commerce with the multi-jurisdictional and multi-tax perspective of this insightful work by distinguished academics and practitioners Richard Doernberg, Luc Hinnekens, Walter Hellerstein, and Jinyan Li.