The Australian Government, on May 4, released draft legislation that would give the revised Australia-Swiss tax treaty and accompanying protocol, signed . . .
An Australian Taxation Office (ATO) official, on May 22, confirmed that Australia and five other nations are collaborating to investigate the global tax planning of multinationals operating in the e-commerce industry.
Mark Konza, ATO Deputy Commissioner, International, said that Australia was “currently involved in a cooperative compliance approach” with five other nations. The collaboration led to the production of an
Members of the OECD task force charged with crafting rules to address the tax challenges of the digital economy still disagree on fundamental issues associated with the project. Speaking April 23, Edourad Marcus, co-chair of the task force, said members are still debating whether they should recommended modifications to the corporate income tax through. . .
Tax officials from 104 jurisdictions attending the November 5-6 meeting of the OECD’s Global Forum on VAT endorsed new OECD VAT/GST guidelines on the treatment of cross-border trade in services and intangibles and suggested that the OECD next consider taking on several new VAT . . .
The European Commission today announced that it has determined that advance pricing agreements granted to a Starbucks subsidiary by The Netherlands and to Fiat subsidiary by Luxembourg were illegal state aid because they sanctioned the allocation of too little profit to activities in those countries and . . .
The European Council on October 6 reached unanimous agreement on a directive that would require EU states to automatically exchange information about private tax rulings with other EU states. The agreement, reached at an ECOFIN meeting in Luxembourg, obliges . . .
A European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgment, released Sept. 17, will result in large VAT bills for banks, insurers, and other businesses considered VAT-exempt.
The decision, Skandia America Corp. v. Sweden, concludes that supplies of services from a non-EU company to its EU branch are subject to VAT when the branch belongs to a VAT group. Previously, provision of these services . . .
Update: For UK government’s October 14 reaction to Skandia, see HM
Revenue and Customs Brief 37 (2014) – VAT grouping rules
The European Court of Justice, in Kronos International Inc. released Sept 11, has ruled that a US registered company resident in Germany may assert that German tax rules violate free movement of capital, but the company may not claim freedom of establishment rights. The ECJ went on to reject the company’s contention that Germany’s tax rules in effect at the time, which permitted a set off for . . .
The European Commission, on June 11, announced that it is investigating whether individual transfer pricing rulings granted to Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Fiat in Luxembourg sanctioned the allocation of too little profit to activities in those countries, thereby amounting to illegal state aid. The Commission has also initiated an infringement action against Luxembourg in connection with the matter.
The decision is part of a wider investigation into whether tax rulings and
. . .
-Update: The Luxembourg Finance Ministry, in a June 12 statement, said it would continue to defend against the Commission’s charges of illegal state aid, and said it still has doubts about the legality Commission requests for information, see statement.
The Netherlands announced November 27 that it will appeal the EU Commission’s October 21 ruling that an advance pricing agreement (APA) granted by the Netherlands to a Starbucks subsidiary amounted to illegal State aid because it sanctioned the allocation of too little taxable profit . . .
The OECD on April 16 released a draft report under action 11 of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan on improving the availability and analysis of data on BEPS and on monitoring the effectiveness and economic impact of actions taken to address BEPS. The report concludes that lack of data . . .
Germany and the UK have agreed to a proposal that would put limits on preferential intellectual property regimes, including the UK’s patent box regime, for purposes of drafting uniform rules responding to Action 5 of the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan. The compromise proposal breaks . . .
The UK ‘s Economic Affairs Committee of the House of Lords, on July 8, will hold a hearing on foreign takeovers of British companies and the public interest. . .
The European Court of Justice, in Groupe Steria SCA, has ruled that EU freedom of establishment principles are infringed by French laws that give only domestic companies the opportunity to join a French group and take advantage of a special tax integration regime . . .
Masao Yoshimura, an Associate Professor of Tax Law at Hitotsubashi University’s Graduate School of International Corporate Strategy, analyzes a July 17 decision of the Supreme Court of Japan concluding that Delaware limited partnerships should be classified as corporations for tax purposes . . .
Indian Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on April 26 said that his administration has no choice but to impose minimum alternative tax (MAT) on capital gains of foreign institutional investors, calling it a legacy from . . .
Countries negotiating the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) guidance have advanced a proposal to require countries that seek access to country-by-country reporting data to first to agree to enhanced dispute resolution, a US Treasury official said on Sept 17.
Speaking during a Deloitte webinar, Robert Stack, US Treasury Deputy . . .
Senior OECD officials provided an overview the 13 final reports issued under the OECD/G20 base erosion and profit shifting plan (BEPS) during two webcasts that aired October 5, just after the reports were released. Discussion covered all 15 action items, including . . .
The US IRS on September 2 released temporary and proposed regulations on the application of the section 956 deemed dividend rules to partnership transactions. Regs were also issued providing that a controlled foreign corporation (CFC) must conduct relevant activities itself to take advantage of the foreign personal holding company income (FPHCI) active rent and royalties exception, including in situations where a cost sharing . . .
The OCED announced May 28 that over 80 countries have agreed to participate in the development of a multilateral instrument to implement the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative. Work on the multilateral instrument has already commenced . . .
The European Court of Justice on May 21 ruled that freedom of establishment principles do not prevent Germany from imposing tax on the unrealized gain inherent in a German partnership’s assets upon the transfer of the assets to the taxpayer’s foreign permanent establishment. The German law provides . . .
China’s State Administration of Taxation (SAT) on March 18 announced that it will no longer permit deductions for royalty fees paid to an overseas related party that did not contribute to the creation of the intangible asset or allow deductions for fees paid to an overseas related party for services that do not provide economic benefit to the subsidiary, writes Dezan Shira & Associates in the March 25 edition of the China Tax Briefing. In its guidance, . . .
The Indian government will not appeal the Bombay High Court’s decision in Vodafone, accepting the Court’s conclusion that transfer pricing laws can not be used to tax an Indian subsidiary’s issuance of shares at a premium to its overseas parent. The decision was announced by Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad during a January 28 press conference following a Union Cabinet meeting. Prasad noted that the Bombay High Court . . .
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UPDATE (1/29/2015): India to apply principles in Vodafone transfer pricing ruling to all cases: The Indian government on January 29 explicitly instructed tax officials to apply the rational behind the Bombay High Court’s decision in Vodafone to all tax cases. Tax officials must follow . . .
The UK government is working on modifications to the proposed diverted profits tax rules that would limit the notification requirements and broaden the exclusion for loan relationships, Mike Williams, Director, Business and International Tax, HM Treasury said January 13. The proposed 25 percent tax on diverted profits, announced in. . .
Two Canadian-U.S. dual citizens, on August 11, filed suit in the Federal Court of Canada challenging the constitutionality of the intergovernmental agreement signed by the U.S. and Canada that implements FATCA.
The lawsuit, funded by the Alliance for the Defense of Canadian Sovereignty (ADCS), alleges that the intergovernmental agreement violates provisions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms . . .
The European Commission, on June 4, endorsed guidelines on secondary adjustments, transfer pricing risk management, and compensating adjustments contained
. . .
The IRS has announced, in Notice 2014-32, that it will amend regulations under section 367 relating to the treatment of property used to acquire parent stock or securities in certain triangular reorganizations involving one or more foreign corporations. Notice 2014–132 (27k). For analysis, see: Sally P. Schreiber, Journal of Accountancy; Deloitte; Bloomberg; KPMG
India’s government will propose tax law amendments that clarify that foreign institutional and portfolio investors (FIIs/FPIs) are not subject to the minimum alternate tax (MAT) on their pre-April 1 income, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told a news conference . . .
G7 leaders, in a joint declaration issued June 8, made a “commitment to establish binding mandatory arbitration to ensure that the risk of double taxation does not act as a barrier to cross-border trade and investment.” The leaders also said they support work being done on binding arbitration as part of the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project, and encouraged others . . .
UPDATE (6/9/2015): Christian Aid sounds alarm over G7 plan for mandatory tax arbitration: Christian Aid, on June 9, called the G7 leaders’ expression of support for compulsory binding arbitration in multinational tax disputes “deeply troubling,” stating . . .
Government and OECD tax officials at a February 17 OECD hearing suggested that, contrary to business representative assertions, a 30 percent of EBITDA fixed ratio is too high to effectively combat excessive multinational corporation interest deductions. Officials suggested that a lower percentage is appropriate for guidance on interest deductions being drafted under the OECD/G-20 base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan. The day-long hearing concerned draft BEPS guidance under action 4, released December 18, that would limit . . .
An advance pricing agreement (APA) issued to Amazon by the Luxembourg tax authorities setting the price of intra-group royalties seems to be designed to ensure a predictable level of profit to Amazon’s Luxembourg operations rather than to achieve an arm’s length result, and thus appears likely to be state aid, the European Commission . . .
The European Commission has concluded that a Spanish tax scheme benefiting companies that acquire foreign shareholdings is incompatible with EU state aid rules . . .
OECD and G20 country tax officials have agreed that minimum standards should be added to tax treaties to prevent treaty shopping; have decided on the content required for transfer pricing documentation, including country-by-country reporting; and have narrowed the scope of hybrid mismatch proposals, OECD officials said during a Sept 16 OECD webinar introducing the first seven OECD base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) deliverables.
The OECD guidance, released as part of . . .
The OECD, on Sept. 1, released a condensed version of the 2014 Model Tax Convention on Income and Capital.
The document includes the text of the articles of the Model as they read on July 15, 2014, after the ninth update by the Council of the OECD. Also included is an introduction, commentaries to the articles, and the positions of non-member countries. 2014 Model Tax Convention, prior coverage
Ireland’s Department of Finance, on May 27, announced a consultation to consider international stakeholder’s views on how Ireland’s tax system should respond to the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative.
“Ireland remains 100% committed to the 12.5% corporation tax rate.
See also, Why Ireland should address corporate tax residency rules before we’re forced to, By Feargal O’Rourke, The Irish Times
The Australian Taxation Office, on April 17, released four documents providing guidance on the transfer pricing laws . . .
The OECD has released a discussion draft on transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting in response to action item 13 of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan. Action 13 calls for a review of the existing transfer pricing documentation . . .
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