International Tax Policy

Explains why perfecting, rather than curbing, interstate competition would make international taxation both more efficient and more just.

Explains the concepts that underlie international tax law and double tax treaties and provides an insight into how international tax policy, law and practice operate to ultimately impose tax on international business and investment.

Tax practitioners, multinational companies and national tax authorities have relied on this indispensable resource since its first edition nearly two decades ago. The Primer provides the reader with an introductory analysis of the major issues that a country must confront in designing its international tax rules and coordinating those rules with the tax systems of its trading partners, with numerous examples drawn from the practices of both developed and developing countries. This fourth edition follows the format and sequence of earlier editions but adds details on ongoing developments surrounding the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project, updates to the OECD and UN Model Conventions, the 2017 US tax reform, the EU anti-tax avoidance directive, and continuing issues concerning the digital economy. The book strikes a balance between the specific and the general by illustrating the fundamental principles and structure of international tax with frequent reference to actual practice in a variety of countries. Coverage includes the following: • role of the tax adviser in planning international transactions; • taxation of residents on foreign income and of nonresidents on domestic income; • mechanisms used to mitigate the risks to taxpayers of international double taxation; • transfer pricing rules to prevent the avoidance of tax by multinational corporations; • anti-avoidance measures dealing with tax havens, treaty shopping, and other offensive tax planning activities; • overview and analysis of the provisions of bilateral tax treaties and the OECD and UN Model Treaties on which they are generally based; and • challenges posed by taxation of income derived from the digital economy. An extensive glossary of international tax terms is included. With examples of typical international tax planning techniques and descriptions of the work of the major international organizations that play an important role with respect to international tax, the Primer remains the preeminent first recourse for professionals in the field. Although of greatest value to students, tax practitioners and government officials confronting international tax for the first time, this book is sure to continue in use by tax professionals at every level of experience and on a worldwide basis.

Advanced Introduction to International Tax Law provides a concise yet wide-ranging overview of the key issues surrounding taxation and international law from a world authority on international tax. Systems of taxation deviate between jurisdictio

In an age when cross-border business transactions are increasingly effected without the transference of physical products, revenue concerns of states have led to a multitude of tax disputes based on the concept of ‘nexus’. This important and timely book is the most authoritative to date to discuss one of the major tax topics of our time – the question of how taxing rights on income generated from cross-border activities in the digital age should be allocated among jurisdictions. Demonstrating in prodigious depth that it is the economic nexus of the tax entity or activity with the state, and not the physical nexus, which meets the jurisdictional requirement, the author – a leading authority on this area who is a Senior Commissioner of Income Tax and a Member of the Dispute Resolution Panel of the Government of India – addresses such dimensions of the subject as the following: whether a strict territorial nexus as a normative principle is ingrained in source rule jurisprudence; detailed scrutiny of such classical doctrines as benefit theory, neutrality theory, and internation equity; comparative critique of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and United Nation (UN) model tax treaties; whether international law and customary principles mandate a strict territorial link with the source state for the assumption of tax jurisdiction; whether the economic nexus-based tax jurisdiction and absence of a physical presence breach the constitutional doctrine of extraterritoriality or due process; and whether retrospective tax legislation breaches the principle of constitutional fairness. The book offers a politically informed analysis of the nexus principle and balances the dynamics of physical presence and economic nexus standards, based on an in-depth survey of the historical evolution of judicial pronouncements and international practices in this regard. Dr Singh’s book exposes an urgently needed missing link in the international source rule literature and takes a giant step towards solving the thorny question of appropriate tax apportionment. It sheds brilliant light on the policies states may adopt when signing new tax treaties, so that unintended results may be foreseen and avoided. Tax practitioners, taxation authorities, and academic researchers in the field of international tax law and policy will greatly appreciate the book’s forthright enhancement of the ability to defend challenges based on the nexus doctrine.

International taxation is a vital issue for a growing number of business and individuals across the world. The need to understand how the international system of taxation works is therefore a subject of importance to many people. The International Taxation System provides this understanding by bringing together experts from the most important fields in the subject who have each authored chapters especially for this book. They each provide brief, structured and easy to understand explanations of the key concepts edited together into one volume to provide a unique, very readable, guide to the field. While this text is aimed at masters or advanced undergraduate level students, it will also be of interest to those requiring a professional understanding of the topic. Each chapter introduces a different aspect of the international taxation system, explains the important issues to be understood in each case and provides suggestions for discussion and further reading.

The problem with tax treaties -- A history of developing countries in (and out of) global tax governance -- Turning the tables: the competition discourse and north-south relations -- OECD knows best: the expert view of tax treaties -- The United Kingdom -- Zambia -- Vietnam and Cambodia -- Historical legacies in a rapidly changing world.