Special Features Of The Un Model Convention

The United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries: 2021 Update is a publication geared towards the international community especially developing countries and countries with economies in transition. Double tax treaties aim to prevent unrelieved double taxation, in order to foster cross-border economic activity and the transfer of technology. The UN Model Tax Convention consists of articles on the treaty's scope and on definitions to be used in the treaty. For different kinds of income and capital, it allocates taxing rights before establishing how double taxation will be eliminated where the taxing rights are shared. It also includes articles that prevent certain forms of tax discrimination; provide for the exchange of tax information and assistance in tax collection between the treaty partners; allow the treaty partners to consult together, through the Mutual Agreement Procedure, to resolve disputes or address doubts concerning the treaty; and address certain types of treaty abuse. The most important changes included in the 2021 version of the UN Model address concerns expressed by developing countries regarding tax treaty obstacles to the taxation of foreign enterprises on income from automated digital services and on gains on so-called “offshore indirect transfers”. The 2021 UN Model also features new guidance on the application and interpretation of the definition of a permanent establishment, the concept of a beneficial owner, and the application of the Model's provisions to collective investment vehicles, pensions funds, and real estate investment trusts. This fifth edition of the UN Model Tax Convention culminates four years of work by the UN Tax Committee and its Subcommittees, supported by the Secretariat in the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Since its first publication in 1980, the Model has been updated previously in 2001, 2011, and 2017.

Detailed research on the UN Model Convention’s unique features The UN Model Convention has a significant influence on international tax treaty practice and is especially used by emerging and developing countries as a starting point for treaty negotiations. Driven by the aim to achieve consistency in the international tax treaty practice, the structure and content is, to a large extent, similar in the UN Model and the OECD Model. However, whereas the OECD has historically focused its efforts on issues mainly relevant for developed countries, the UN Tax Committee has continuously attempted to specifically take into account tax treaty policies for developing countries when drafting and amending the UN Model Convention. Compared to the OECD Model Convention, the UN Model Convention aims at giving more weight to the source principle. Popular examples are the PE definition in the UN Model which provides for a lower threshold than Article 5 of the OECD Model or Article 12A on Fees for Technical Services which has been introduced with the latest amendment of the UN Model Convention 2017 and allows for a withholding tax to be levied on payments to non-residents when the payer of the fee is a resident of that contracting State irrespective of where the services are provided. Interestingly, in the discussions of the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, the OECD and the G20 are also exploring options to allocate more taxing rights to the jurisdiction of the customer and/or user, i.e., the ‘market jurisdictions’. As this has traditionally been the focus of the UN Model Convention, its unique features and developing countries’ practices could be taken into account when exploring new nexus rules that are not constrained by the physical presence requirement. This book contains the master’s theses of the full-time LL.M. program 2018-2019 for which ‘Special Features of the UN Model Convention’ has been chosen as the general topic. With this book, the authors and editors do not aim at discussing each article of the UN Model Convention but rather focus on the unique features of the UN Model Convention, which are explored in detail. This is supplemented with an evaluation of the function and relevance of the UN Tax Committee in the international tax policy discussion and with an analysis of the influences of the OECD's BEPS project on the UN Model.

This is the tenth edition of the condensed version of the "OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital". It contains the full text of the "Model Tax Convention on Income and Capital" as it read on 21 November 2017, but without the historical notes and the background reports included...

As almost every income tax treaty is based on precedents found in the OECD or UN Model Convention, the practical relevance of the two Models is undeniable. The Models and the Commentaries thereon serve not only as starting points during treaty negotiations but also as significant aids in interpretation in the sense of articles 31 and 32 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Although the UN Model draws strongly from the OECD Model, it pursues a different aim and deviates substantially in certain provisions.0In its 11 chapters, this book provides a detailed analysis of the deviations between the OECD and UN Models. It examines the provisions included in the Models, as well as their impact and relevance.0The book incorporates the perspectives of leading scholars and practitioners in the field of international taxation.

This publication is the tenth edition of the full version of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital. This full version contains the full text of the Model Tax Convention as it read on 21 November 2017, including the Articles, Commentaries, non-member economies’ positions, ...

The Law of Double Taxation Conventions Cross-border activities or transactions may trigger tax liability in two or more jurisdictions. In order to mitigate the financial burden resulting from these situations, States have entered into numerous double taxation conventions, which provide for rules that allocate the taxing rights between the contracting states. This handbook aims at providing an introduction to the law of double taxation conventions. It is designed for students – irrespective of their national background, but the author believes that it will also be of great help for tax experts who wish to know more about double taxation conventions, as well as for international law experts who wish to understand more about tax law. The handbook does not consider one jurisdiction in particular but rather takes examples from a wide range of different countries and their jurisdictions. It includes an overview of the problem of double taxation, the state practice in the conclusion of double tax conventions and their effects, the interpretation of double taxation conventions and treaty abuse. Furthermore, this updated handbook takes new developments into account occurred since the last edition of the book from 2013, in particular also the changes through OECD’s BEPS project and the Multilateral Instrument. It deals with the latest versions of the OECD Model Tax Conventions on Income and on Capital and the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries, both published in 2017, as well as the latest version of the OECD Model Double Taxation Convention on Estates and Inheritances and on Gifts.

A new edition of the preeminent work on the permanent establishment (PE) is a major event in tax law scholarship. Taking into account changes in judicial and administrative practice as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) and the United Nation’s (UN’s) work in the three decades since the first edition, the present study brings the analysis up to date with the current internationally accepted interpretation of PE. The analysis is based on more than 720 cases from more than 20 countries, in addition to the OECD and UN model treaties and more than 630 books, articles, and official documents. The increased significance of the digital economy has rendered the traditional concept of PE inadequate for the allocation of taxing jurisdiction over the modern, mobile or digital international business. The author’s in-depth analysis explains the legal elements of the PE principle with attention to their continuing benefit and their shortcomings: criteria defining a PE- place of business, location, right of use, duration, business connection, business activity, ordinary course of business; evidence of a right of use to a place of business; business activities included in the PE concept of the tax treaties; identification of projects offshore and onshore; UN model treaty deviations from the OECD agency clause; distinction between jurisdictions with significant natural resources and countries possessing the capital, technology and know-how necessary to explore and exploit these resources; and how policies in each country may erode the PE concept. The book provides many synopses of court decisions and administrative rulings upon which the analysis is based. In addition to cases previously published in law reports and other publications, a number of unpublished decisions are included. A key word index makes it easy to find what is needed in any particular matter. The PE principle, in one version or another, is used in several thousand tax treaties in force today. This updated comprehensive study reveals the obligations imposed through the use of PE in tax treaties and will continue to be of immeasurable value to tax practitioners and scholars worldwide. In addition, the discussion of whether the notion of PE is an appropriate criterion for taxing jurisdiction in international fiscal law today provides authoritative and insightful food for thought.