International Tax Planning And Prevention Of Abuse

This study considers how tax authorities attempt to strike down international tax avoidance structures, in particular those involving the use of conduit and base companies set up by third-country residents for purposes of "treaty shopping" and "EC-Directive shopping". The book focuses on the interaction between provisions and judicially developed doctrines of domestic tax law preventing international tax avoidance on the one hand, and norms of international law, in particular tax treaties and rules of Community law, on the other. It also considers treaty-based anti-avoidance measures such as the "beneficial ownership" requirement and "limitation on benefits" provisions. This part of the study compares and analyses the case law of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Analysis of notion, roots und measures of treaty abuse The OECD initiative on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has put the issue of treaty abuse and the means to counter it on top of the global political agenda. Preventing treaty abuse is therefore currently one of the most debated topics in international tax law. Diverging national legal traditions in combatting abuse both under domestic and tax treaty law have led to a globally diversified legal framework in this respect and make the OECD’s agenda to harmonize these attempts even more challenging. The aim of this book is to analyze the notion of treaty abuse, its historical roots and the measures to counter it. The book’s topics cover a wide range of both policy and legal issues. The contributions’ main focus lies onanalyzing the proposals put forward by the OECD in BEPS action items 6 and 7. In addition, this book analyzes the lessons which can be learnt from the US tax treaty policy and elaborates on the effects the intensified fight against treaty abuse will have from a Non-OECD member state perspective. Also EU law is taken into account and the question raised which impact the fundamental freedoms might have on the development of new anti-avoidance rules. Finally the relation between domestic and treaty based anti-avoidance is analyzed in great detail, identifying the methodical problems of ensuring a sound and abuse safe legal framework. With this book, the authors and editors hope to contribute to the discussion on selected issues of preventing treaty abuse and the challenges they present to policy makers, judges, tax administrations and tax advisers.

This book provides international tax professionals with a practical guide on dealing with the Dutch taxation of business investments into the Netherlands, via the Netherlands (conduit structures), or from the Netherlands. The book focuses on corporate income tax, dividend tax and capital duty, as well as other issues typical of an international environment (participation exemption, the current state of the ruling practice, financing). The contents include: introduction to Dutch domestic law, including both corporate and personal income tax, dividend withholding tax, VAT, real estate transfer tax; an in-depth analysis of the Dutch corporate income tax system including financing a taxpayer, tax consolidation, holding companies and participation exemption, corporate reorganizations, financing companies, transfer pricing, loss compensation, inbound investments and anti-abuse legislation; participation exemption and Dutch interest limitation rules; royalty and interest income box, an overview of Dutch international law examining treaties, the tax agreement for the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the unilateral decree for the prevention of double taxation and EU law; a description of Dutch dividend tax including EU entities and dividend tax credit; an overview of the exchange of information including national law, the ruling practice, treaties and EU law; a description of the personal income tax, including 30% cost allowance and employee stock option plans.

As the struggle to combat tax abuse and tax avoidance gains momentum, ways of making a tax jurisdiction ‘manipulation-proof’ continue to proliferate, from new or revised provisions in model tax treaties to a dramatic increase in the number and variety of anti-abuse and anti-avoidance rules at all levels of government. These measures interact with national tax systems, general anti-abuse clauses and tax treaties. The conflicts and other legal difficulties that inevitably result deserve intensive scrutiny. This book provides an in-depth analysis of current issues concerning the relations of various anti-abuse rules to each other and their impact on the application of tax treaties. The topics include the following: domestic general anti-avoidance rules (GAARs); domestic specific anti-avoidance rules (SAARs) (including controlled foreign company rules); minimum holding periods; indirect transfers of immovable property, shares, and rights; limitation on benefits; residence criteria in tax treaties; tax treatment of sportspersons and entertainers; the principal purpose test of Article 29 (9) OECD Model (2017); and influence of European Union Law on tax treaty abuse. The chapters are revised and expanded versions of papers presented at the 30th Viennese Symposium on International Tax Law held on 12 June 2023 at Vienna University of Economics and Business. Each author offers an in-depth analysis of a particular topic, drawing on the most recent scientific research. This is the only book available to offer such a wide-ranging, detailed, and practical analysis of how the full range of anti-abuse rules interacts with tax treaties. It will prove of immeasurable value to practitioners and law firms active in tax planning, tax consultants, academics and researchers in international tax law and counsel for companies involved in international business.

In international tax law, the term ‘beneficial ownership’ refers to which parties involved in a cross-border transaction are entitled to tax treaty benefits. However, determining beneficial ownership is a complex and often disputed issue, subject to different meanings in different countries. Archival research on its early use in tax treaties and in the developing OECD Model reveals that its meaning has changed dramatically over the decades, leading to new interpretations significantly affecting current tax practice and scholarship. This book, dedicated to establishing how beneficial ownership should ideally be interpreted, compares the use and interpretation of benefi-cial ownership, both current and historical, in a wide range of national jurisdictions as well as the EU, ultimately shedding a clearer light than has heretofore been available on the meaning of the term. In her very thorough analysis of the application of beneficial ownership, the author touches on such aspects as the following: – historical development of the beneficial ownership requirement as used in tax treaties and in the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital; – rules of double taxation conventions; – application of the OECD’s Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS); – the problem of so-called ‘white income’; – use of the substance-over-form principle; – attribution-of-income rules; and – the role of agents, nominees, and conduit companies. Specific analysis of the use and interpretation of beneficial ownership in a domestic law and treaty context in numerous jurisdictions – with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and Germany – is a major feature of the presentation. As a thorough guide to determining whether a person claiming tax treaty benefits is the true owner – and which parties are excluded from treaty benefits and to what extent – this book will be of immeasurable value to lawyers, tax authorities, policymakers, and other professionals working with taxable international transactions of any kind.

Tax planning structures used by some MNEs have become the bane of policymakers nowadays, at the OECD as well as the EU level, since recent statistics revealed public budgets were deprived of billions of euros. 0Within the context of recent developments in the tax arena, this book examines the anti-abuse measures that already exist in various countries and scrutinizes the effectiveness of these measures in countering aggressive tax structures. This work can be considered complementary to the reports issued or to be issued by the OECD, and to the recent activity at the EU level, as it provides an in-depth analysis of what is already happening in practice in various countries when they encounter abusive tax structures. It also highlights the challenges implicit in the recommended measures in the draft reports issued by the OECD up until 1 May 2015, with some exceptions. The book provides the reader with an analysis of the most common strategies against tax avoidance; the key concepts in international tax structuring, such as the use of permanent establishments and the exploitation of transfer pricing rules; and the intricacies of anti-abuse measures that counter tax structuring schemes used for financing activities and for selected business models, specifically related to supply chain management, IP migration and exploitation, the digital economy and holding companies.

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1.7, University of Hamburg (IIFS), course: USA Tax Law, language: English, abstract: Double Taxation Treaties (“DTT“) are treaties between two or more countries to avoid international double taxation of income and property of individuals or legal entities. The main purpose of DTT is to divide the right taxation between the involved countries, to avoid differences in taxation and to ensure taxpayers’ equal rights and security. International tax planning has become a serious concern and companies started to shift their income to low-taxed jurisdictions. Therefore, states with a higher taxation fear for their tax revenues. That is the reason why the prevention of abusive use of tax treaty benefits became a central aspect in the tax treaty policy of most industrialized countries.

The notion of ‘substance’ is proving to be central to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, particularly in the area of taxation of intangibles. In this book, this notoriously hard-to-define concept is examined from three distinct angles: transfer pricing (DEMPE Approach), harmful tax practices (Substantial Activity Requirement), and tax treaties (Beneficial Ownership). In a thoroughgoing investigation using the practical example of an IP company, the author provides detailed and precise answers to the following questions: What substance is necessary to be entitled to intangible-related returns? What substance is necessary to benefit from preferential IP regimes or no or only nominal tax jurisdictions? What substance is necessary to collect royalties free from withholding taxes? Given the need to agree on a common understanding of substance in international tax law in order to avoid costly tax disputes, this important book is unmatched for the clear light it sheds on the most relevant substance requirements regarding intangibles. It will prove invaluable to tax practitioners and in-house counsel who are dealing with cross-border transactions concerning intangibles.