This book is a study on the historical development and current status of international tax law in several of the world's most important trading economies. The book emphasizes the laws and policies of the United States, Western Europe, the United Nations, and the OECD. Chapter eight contains a discussion of transfer pricing. Chapter ten addresses the internationalization of tax administrations, contains information relating to tax havens, anti-tax haven legislation, transfer pricing, and tax treaties. Other chapters cover the history, principles and policies of international tax laws; the past and present status of the international tax treaty system; international tax avoidance; the problems created by tax deferrals; worldwide unitary tax issues; and global business and international fiscal laws.
The book is written for students of business economics and tax law. It focuses on investment and financing decisions in cross-border situations. In particular, the book deals with: Legal structures of international company taxation, International double taxation, Source-based and residence-based income taxation, International investment and profit shifting, International corporate tax planning, International tax planning and European law, Harmonization of corporate taxation in the European Union, International tax planning and tax accounting. International tax law is designed to avoid international double taxation and to combat international tax avoidance. Nevertheless, companies investing in foreign countries may suffer from international double taxation of profits. On the other hand, these companies may also be able to exploit an international tax rate differential by means of cross-border tax planning. Ulrich Schreiber holds the chair of Business Administration and Business Taxation at the University of Mannheim. He serves as co-editor of Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung (zfbf) and Schmalenbach Business Review (sbr) and is affiliated with the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) as a research associate. Ulrich Schreiber is a member of the Academic Advisory Board of the Federal Ministry of Finance.
This book provides a description and analysis of tax systems worldwide. It offers practical guidance on international planning approaches from a team of both tax practitioners and academics. In addition to references to country-specific tax legislation - including laws and rules in all EU Member States plus the United States, as well as special provisions in Australia, Japan, and elsewhere - the book discusses important ECJ decisions and various other case studies.
Banking is an increasingly global business, with a complex network of international transactions within multinational groups and with international customers. This book provides a thorough, practical analysis of international taxation issues as they affect the banking industry. Thoroughly explaining banking’s significant benefits and risks and its taxable activities, the book’s broad scope examines such issues as the following: taxation of dividends and branch profits derived from other countries; transfer pricing and branch profit attribution; taxation of global trading activities; tax risk management; provision of services and intangible property within multinational groups; taxation treatment of research and development expenses; availability of tax incentives such as patent box tax regimes; swaps and other derivatives; loan provisions and debt restructuring; financial technology (FinTech); group treasury, interest flows, and thin capitalisation; tax havens and controlled foreign companies; and taxation policy developments and trends. Case studies show how international tax analysis can be applied to specific examples. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (OECD BEPS) measures and how they apply to banking taxation are discussed. The related provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention are analysed in detail. The banking industry is characterised by rapid change, including increased diversification with new banking products and services, and the increasing significance of activities such as shadow banking outside current regulatory regimes. For all these reasons and more, this book will prove to be an invaluable springboard for problem solving and mastering international taxation issues arising from banking. The book will be welcomed by corporate counsel, banking law practitioners, and all professionals, officials, and academics concerned with finance and its tax ramifications.
The international tax system is in dire need of reform. It allows multinational companies to shift profits to low tax jurisdictions and thus reduce their global effective tax rates. A major international project, launched in 2013, aimed to fix the system, but failed to seriously analyse the fundamental aims and rationales for the taxation of multinationals' profit, and in particular where profit should be taxed. As this project nears its completion, it is becomingincreasingly clear that the fundamental structural weaknesses in the system will remain. This book, produced by a group of economists and lawyers, adopts a different approach and starts from first principles in order to generate an international tax system fit for the 21st century. This approach examines fundamental issues of principle and practice in the taxation of business profit and the allocation of taxing rights over such profit amongst countries, paying attention to the interests and circumstances of advanced and developing countries. Once this conceptual framework is developed, the book evaluates the existing system and potential reform options against it. A number of reform options are considered, ranging from those requiring marginal change to radically different systems. Some options have been discussed widely. Others, particularly Residual Profit Split systems and a Destination Based Cash-Flow Tax, are more innovative and have been developed at some length and in depth for the first time in this book. Their common feature is that they assign taxing rights partly/fully to the location of relatively immobile factors: shareholders or consumers.
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.
Time is a crucial dimension in the application of any law. In tax law, however, where an environment characterized by rapid change on the national, European, and international levels complicates the provision of accurate legal advice, timing is particularly sensitive. This book is the first to analyse the relationship between time and three key areas of tax: treaties, EU law, and constitutional law issues, such as legal certainty and individual rights. Among the numerous timing issues arising out of applying tax rules, the book addresses the following: – time limits within which relief must be requested; – statutes of limitation for claiming a tax refund; – transitional issues relating to changes in tax treaties; – attribution of profits and expenses to a moving or closed-down business; – effect of tax-related CJEU decisions and EU directives; – compliance of exit tax regimes with free movement; – limits of retroactivity under principles protected by the EU Charter and the ECHR; and – conflict between efficiency of taxation and individual rights. Derived from a recent conference organized by the prestigious ATOZ Chair for European and International Taxation at the University of Luxembourg, the book brings together contributions from leading tax experts from various areas of tax practice, academia, and the judiciary. Among other issues, the book notably expands on how economic theory can inform a constitutional analysis of the timing of taxation. There is no other work that concentrates so usefully on the difficulties associated with applying tax rules – whether arising from treaties, jurisprudence, or policy – to changing circumstances over time. This book will quickly prove itself to be an indispensable resource for European tax lawyers, policymakers, company counsels, and academics.
The book provides a clear introduction to international taxation and presents its material in a global context, explaining policy, legal issues and planning points central to taxation issues, primarily from the viewpoint of a multinational group of companies. It uses examples and diagrams throughout to aid the reader's understanding and offers more in-depth material on many important areas of the subject. Traditionally published every 2 years in both print and digital formats, this content is a core requirement for student reading lists at both undergraduate and post graduate level. Fully updated to cover all new tax legislation and developments in light of the OECD BEPS project implementation, key areas to be included in this new edition are: - changes proposed by BEPS 2.0 in relation to taxation and the digital economy, including Pillar Two and the proposed new UN Model Article 12B; - further progress on the implantation of OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting implementation, including: -- an update on the implementation of BEPS recommendations including artificial avoidance of permanent establishment status and prevention of treaty abuse; -- the implementation of transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting; -- multilateral instrument implementation; - the impact of Covid-19 on international taxation; - further developments in European direct taxation including the transparency package, directives on anti-tax avoidance and the common corporate tax base and state aid cases (Apple in particular) and updates to the Directive on Administrative Cooperation, and the new communication on Business Taxation for the 21st Century. - Proposals in relation to the taxation of digital business, in particular the OECD's unified approach and the UN modifications to the Model Double Taxation Convention. - Proposals for a global minimum corporate tax rate to curb base erosion and tax competition.
The phenomenal internationalization of taxation occurring in recent years has called for a second edition of this classic handbook. Even though a quarter of a century has passed, the farsighted first edition has remained in constant use worldwide and has even grown in importance. Now it has been thoroughly updated by the author, who has brought his piercing insight to bear on the current world of international tax law while retaining the book’s practical format, structure of primary materials, and detailed commentary. Emphasizing the need for an international consciousness in relation to issues of taxation, Professor Qureshi focuses extensively on the problems associated with fiscal jurisdiction, international constraints in domestic taxation, double taxation, and tax evasion and avoidance. In particular the following are covered: treaty law with specific reference to taxation; fiscal aspects of international monetary, investment, and trade law; enforcement of international tax claims; exchange of information; assistance in recovery of tax claims; mechanisms for the resolution of international tax disputes; base erosion and profit shifting in the framework of public international law; and contribution of international institutions to fiscal capacity development. Assimilating in one source the basic materials in public international law germane to taxation – including cases, texts of international agreements, discourse in secondary sources, and incisive commentary, all updated to the present – this new edition of the most authoritative and important book in its field will be of immeasurable value to tax practitioners worldwide, national taxation authorities, international institutions, and the international tax community more generally.
