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Americas
Ireland, US multinationals to face new tax landscape in 2018
Jim Stewart, Trinity Business School, Trinity College, Dublin discusses how EU tax authorities’ increasing challenges to the tax strategies of US multinationals, their access to information about MNE activities, US tax reform, and the net effect of ‘correlative adjustments,’ are creating a new tax environment for US MNEs, Ireland, and international taxation in general . . .
Multinational
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Europe
Ordinary VAT rate on e-books is valid, European court concludes
Davide Anghileri of the University of Lausanne discusses a March 7 European Court of Justice ruling concluding that the EU VAT directive is valid under EU law even though it excludes electronically-supplied digital books, newspapers, and periodicals from a reduced rate of VAT . . .
Europe
ECJ rules in Spanish goodwill cases, implications for Apple, Fiat, Starbucks State aid cases
Dimitrios Kyriazis, a Doctoral Researcher in Law at the University of Oxford, analyzes the European Court of Justice’s judgment in the so-called Spanish goodwill cases, released December 21, and addresses the ruling’s impact on the Apple, Fiat, Starbucks State aid cases . . .
Multinational
Europe
EU Commission to soon propose new measures to combat tax avoidance by multinationals
The European Commission will present a new package of tax proposals by the end of January to combat tax avoidance by multinationals and tax fraud, EU commissioner Pierre Moscovici told . . .
Europe
Professor reviews case law applying EU State aid rules to tax legislation: Wolfgang Schön / SSRN→
See: Tax Legislation and the Notion of Fiscal Aid – A Review of Five Years of European Jurisprudence by Wolfgang Schön. (December 22, 2015). Working Paper of the Max Planck Institute for Tax Law and Public Finance No. 2015-14. Available at SSRN.
Europe
Greenland is 78th signatory of Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement
Greenland signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, on December 17, becoming the . . .
Africa
Developing nations detail their experiences with BEPS, react to OECD work
Tax officials from 11 developing nations described the most common practices MNEs use to shift profits out of their countries, obstacles that prevent their countries from stopping these practices, and their reactions to the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project, responding to a UN request for . . .
Europe
European Commission seeks members for new expert group on automatic exchange of information
The European Commission has launched a call for applications for a newly established expert group on automatic exchange of financial account information for direct taxation purposes. The . . .
Europe
Tax deals granted by Luxembourg to Amazon, Microsoft, and McDonald’s under EU scrutiny
The European Union’s competition commission has requested information from Luxembourg to determine if tax deals granted to Amazon violate state aid rules, according to unnamed sources interviewed for a July 3 FT report.
Meanwhile, the EU is scrutinizing Luxembourg’s taxation of Microsoft’s and McDonald’s operations, according to a July 4 Bloomberg article.
The actions appear to be part of a wider investigation into whether tax rulings
Featured News
OECD hybrid mismatch proposal’s ten percent threshold scrutinized at hearing
Government representatives at a May 15 consultation defended draft OECD guidance on hybrid mismatch arrangements that uses a 10 percent ownership threshold to determine whether parties to a hybrid instrument are related.
The guidance, released March 19, responds to action item 2 of the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) . . .
Asia-Pacific
Niue signs Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters
Niue on November 27 signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, becoming the 92nd signatory. . .
Americas
US lawmakers to hold hearings on BEPS, EU State aid cases
(Updated 11/25/2015) The US Senate Finance Committee will consider the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project and the European Commission’s State aid challenges to private tax rulings entered into between EU States . . .
Europe
European Parliament committee to investigate tax ruling practices of EU states
The European Parliament voted February 12 to establish a special committee to investigate the tax ruling practices of EU member states. The 45-member committee . . .
Multinational
OECD releases 50 comments to BEPS discussion draft on dispute resolution mechanisms
The OECD on January 19 released comments to a discussion draft under action 14 of the base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan dealing with making cross-border tax dispute resolution mechanisms more . . .
Americas
US IRS gives countries with “in substance” FATCA IGAs more time to sign IGAs, adds more countries to the “in substance” list
The US IRS on December 1 released an advance copy of guidance that provides that countries that have reached FATCA intergovernmental agreements (IGAs) “in substance” that do not sign an IGA by December 31 will continue to be treated as if an IGA was in effect as long as the country displays a “firm resolve” to sign an IGA as soon as possible. The new guidance . . .
Europe
Switzerland signs agreement for automatic exchange of information
Switzerland on November 19 signed a multilateral competent authority agreement, moving the country one step closer to adopting automatic exchange of financial account information under the OECD/G-20 Common Reporting Standard beginning 2018 . . .
Multinational
Recoules appointed Taxand global head of indirect tax
Alain Recoules, of Taxand France been appointed global head of indirect tax, the firm has announced. Release
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OECD approves revisions to the Model Tax Convention
The OECD Council, on July 15, approved a 2014 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. The update modifies Article 26 on exchange of information to allow for group requests. Changes are also made to the meaning of “beneficial owner” for purposes of the OECD Model Convention; to tax treaty issues related to emissions permits and credits; to the tax treaty treatment of termination of employment payments; and to Article 17 (Artistes and Sportsmen). No updates relate to the OECD’s BEPS project.
An updated Model Tax Convention will be published in next few months. See, 2014 Update to the Model Tax Convention, Release.
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OECD releases report assessing the practices of 56 tax administrations
The 384-page OECD report, released August 11, compares tax administrations on their performance and discusses best practices and trends. See: OECD
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OECD releases model legislation, competent authority agreements to implement country-by-country reporting
The OECD on June 8 released model domestic legislation and competent authority agreements to implement the transfer pricing country-by-country (CbC) reporting plan developed under the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project. The work furthers action 13 of the OECD/G20 BEPS plan and . . .
Europe
Journalists publish 35 more leaked Luxembourg tax rulings on the Internet
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on December 9 published on the Internet 35 more leaked Luxembourg private tax rulings. The documents originated from the big four accounting firms, as well as from smaller Luxembourg-based tax firms and law . . .
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OECD releases BEPS discussion draft on preventing artificial avoidance of PE status
The OECD on October 31 released a discussion draft on the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment ( PE) status, addressing commissionaire structures, the avoidance of PE status through specific activity exemptions, and other issues. The draft responds to Action 7 of the OECD/G-20 Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), issued
. . .
UPDATE: OECD to hold January 21 consultation on draft rules to stop avoidance of PE status: Requests to attend or speak are due January 9.
Multinational
OECD set to release seven BEPS action plan items on September 16
The OECD has announced that it will publish its first set of deliverables under the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) action plan on Sept. 16, and that it will hold a technical conference on the release the same day, streamed live on the internet. . .
Multinational
OECD seeks feedback on use of tax incentives by poor countries
The OECD on July 9 launched consultation on a draft paper offering guidance to low income countries on the use of tax incentives for investment. The consultation responds to a G20 Development Working Group’s. . .
Belgium
EU committee publishes letters from 13 nations on tax ruling practices
A European Parliament committee has published letters from EU member state officials describing tax ruling practices, efforts to combat tax avoidance, and compliance with EU spontaneous exchange of information directives. The letters, published by. . .
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OECD releases revised BEPS discussion draft on avoidance of PE status
The OECD on May 15 released a revised discussion draft under action 7 of the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) action plan concerning artificial avoidance of permanent establishment (PE) status. The draft, prepared by Working Party No. 1 (WP1) of the. . .
Belgium
EU Commission to investigate tax ruling practices of all EU states
The European Commission has enlarged its state aid investigation into private tax ruling practices to cover all 28 European Union states. “The Commission will ask Member States to provide information about their tax ruling practice, in particular to confirm whether they provide tax rulings, and, if they do, to request a list of all companies that have received a tax ruling from 2010 to 2013,” the Commission said December 17 in a press release . . .
Multinational
UN releases papers in advance of workshop on protecting the tax base of developing countries
The UN’s Financing for Development Office has released papers authored by prominent international tax professors in preparation for a workshop, “Tax Base Protection for Developing Countries,” to be held on Sept. 23.
The workshop is the second of a . . .
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OECD releases global standard for automatic exchange of tax information
The OECD, on July 21, released the full version of its standard for automatic exchange of tax information. Included is an overview of the standard, the full text of the Model Competent Authority Agreement and the Common Reporting and Due Diligence Standard, commentaries on the model agreements, and seven annexes, including model multilateral and nonreciprocal competent . . .
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IMF report says international tax spillovers harm developing nations, suggests possible responses
The international tax practices of countries spill over national boundaries and negatively effect other nations, particularly developing nations, concludes a International Monetary Fund (IMF) staff report.
The 85-page report, “Spillovers in International Corporate Taxation,” dated May 9 but released publicly on June 25, analyzes tax spillovers and suggests . . .
-NEW: Analysis by Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev, at true economics
Multinational
Breaking BEPS: The New International Tax Diplomacy – Itai Grinberg / SSRN
Professor Itai Grinberg of Georgetown University Law Center predicts that the parts of the BEPS plan to be implemented by the OECD Model Treaty will be implemented, whereas “everything else is subject to substantial doubt.” See: SSRN
