Given the increasing problem of double taxation concerning value added tax (VAT)/goods and services tax (GST) and the resulting constraints to international trade, it is time for the international community to take action. This book analyses the phenomenon of VAT/GST double taxation and possible remedies. VAT/GST treaties would be one of them. But how should one design a VAT/GST treaty? To what extent do existing income tax treaties already apply to VAT/GST? Can income tax treaties simply be extended to VAT/GST or is there a need for a separate, independent VAT/GST treaty? Can the concepts, functioning, and structure of income tax treaties be used for VAT/GST purposes? What are possible alternatives? What should the scope of a VAT/GST treaty be? How can taxing rights be allocated between the parties to a treaty?
This paper set forth internationally agreed principles and standards for the value added tax (VAT) treatment of the most common types of international transactions, with a particular focus on trade in services and intangibles. Its aim is to minimise inconsistencies in the application of VAT in a cross-border context with a view to reducing uncertainty and risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in international trade. It also includes the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on crossborder sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project).
This working paper gives a broad-sweep consideration to the future of VAT in a digital economy, focussing on four broad, interrelated questions: does anything need to be done, and if yes, who should do it, what should be done, and how should it be done? Noting the historical development of the OECD work on cross-border VAT rules for digital and other services - and the expansion and increased attention to that work as a result of its inclusion in the BEPS process - the author answers the first question in the affirmative and then turns to the remaining questions. A strong preference is expressed for continuing the existing multifaceted, multipronged, diffuse approach to improving and coordinating the collection of VAT in a cross-border context. After rejecting the notion of a VAT multilateral tax instrument, along the lines of the OECD Model Tax Convention, the paper concludes with a more small-picture list of specific things that could be done, and/or which currently are being done in some countries, and which could be elevated to the status of international best practice and widely adopted by countries operating a fully-fledged VAT.Though written in 2014, prior to the release of the final version of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines and recent or proposed extensions of consumption tax to inbound digital services in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Korea, and other countries, the paper remains highly topical and relevant to the current discourse on cross-border rules for VAT and GST laws.A version of this paper was published as Chapter 5 in Michael Lang and Ine Lejeune (eds.), VAT/GST in a Global Digital Economy (2015 Kluwer Law International Alphen aan den Rijn:), pp. 173-196.
Value Added Tax (VAT; also known as Goods and Services Tax, under the acronym GST in a number of OECD countries) has become a major source of revenue for governments around the world. Some 165 countries operated a VAT at the time of the completion of the International VAT/GST Guidelines in 2016, more than twice as many as 25 years before. As VAT continued to spread across the world, international trade in goods and services has also expanded rapidly in an increasingly globalised economy. One consequence of these developments has been the greater interaction between VAT systems, along with growing risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in the absence of international VAT co-ordination. The International VAT/GST Guidelines now present a set of internationally agreed standards and recommended approaches to address the issues that arise from the uncoordinated application of national VAT systems in the context of international trade. They focus in particular on trade in services and intangibles, which poses increasingly important challenges for the design and operation of VAT systems worldwide. They notably include the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on cross-border sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project). These Guidelines were adopted as a Recommendation by the Council of the OECD in September 2016.
An in-depth analysis of the specific aspects of justice, equality and tax law "Justice, Equality and Tax Law" is a topic that is both old and new at the same time. Even if the society changes, the demands that tax needs to be just and equal seem to be immutable. What changes, of course, is the perception of the content of those demands. International taxation post-BEPS has been fraught with new challenges that warranted urgent responses. These challenges were mainly provoked by the unprecedented rise of the digital economy which truly marked a change in the way business is conducted, how value is created, and how goods and services are produced and consumed. Digitalization, in turn, had repercussions on all aspects of taxation - direct taxation, indirect taxation, and even tax procedures. For instance, the quest for more justice and equality in profit taxes was the reason why, in October 2021, a historical deal based on a two-pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy was negotiated within the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and agreed upon by 137 member countries. It was also the motive behind the shift from a typical vendor collection model to an intermediary collection model supported by centralized registration points in indirect taxes, notably the VAT/GST. Abundant data from the European Union or the OECD signalized an ever-increasing gap between expected VAT revenues and VAT actually collected, making it obvious that the classical system of VAT/GST collection was unable to respond to challenges posed by the digital economy. Therefore, new solutions based on the participation of digital platforms as intermediaries had been introduced. Finally, new technologies, such as blockchain, paved new avenues in enhancing tax compliance. In this context, this volume entitled "Justice, Equality, and Tax Law" contains not only a selection of the best master ́s theses of the full-time LL.M. programme in 2021/2022 but also represents an in-depth analysis of various aspects of this evergreen topic.
The main purpose of the Convention is to provide a standardised system to deal with problems of international juridical double taxation (the imposition of comparable taxes in two or more States on the same taxpayer in relation to the same subject matter and for identical periods). It comprises of two volumes and includes the full text of the Model Tax Convention as updated on 15 July 2005, together with an introduction, commentary and previous background reports (adopted after the publication of the 1977 Model Double Taxation Convention on Income and Capital and that have resulted in changes to the text of Convention articles or corresponding commentary).
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...
This book provides a comprehensive in-depth analysis of the similarities and differences between consumption taxes and direct taxes. Fifty contributions are included, written by academics, practitioners and representatives from several international tax administrations and institutions.
