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国际税法反思

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Universiteit Leiden

国际税法反思

562 个评分

In recent years, the international tax planning strategies of multinationals have become a source of – often heated – debate. This course provides learners with the tools to become fully informed participants in the debate by explaining the foundations and practice of international tax law as well as addressing current developments and the ethical aspects of tax planning.

从本节课中

International tax planning – base case

In this first week, we will start on our journey into the world of international taxation. We will see that the tax planning activities of multinationals have attracted a lot of attention during the past few years. We will examine why planning strategies are now in the public eye, what the public debate is really about and who the key players are. We will also go to the core of international tax planning and build a base case, the elements of which we will study throughout the course.

The OECD & the EU5:16

与讲师见面

Prof. Dr. Sjoerd Douma
Faculty of Law
International Tax Center

Hi.

You may have asked yourself in a previous video how the OECD, and

to a much lesser extent, the EU, became so

involved in the international field of corporate income tax.

Well, this has historic reasons.

As the end of the 19th century and

the beginning of the 20th century saw an uprise in post-war economic activity,

the issue of international juridical double taxation, which is

the imposition of comparable taxes in two or more states on the same taxpayer

in respect of the same subject matter and for

identical periods became more pressing.

Consequently, individual states entered into bilateral agreements for

the avoidance of double taxation.

At first, bilateral treaties were concluded

on a relatively small scale between neighboring countries.

But after the First World War

an extensive treaty network developed in central Europe.

Germany, for instance, concluded its first double tax agreement with Italy in 1925.

And the United Kingdom, concluded a bilateral tax treaty with Ireland in 1922.

United States concluded tax treaties with Sweden and France in 1939.

This patchwork of differing bilateral treaties stimulated the League of Nations,

the predecessor the current United Nations

and founded in 1920 after World War I to develop a kind of uniform,

model tax treaty.

In 1921, it asked four experts on public finance, Bruins from Rotterdam,

Einaudi from Turin, Seligman from New York, and Stamp from London,

to prepare a report of double taxation which led to a famous publication in 1923.

This publication was subsequently discussed in various sub-committees,

leading to a first model treaty in 1928 and to the model treaty of Mexico in 1943.

In 1946, the model treaty of London was completed.

And after the Second World War, the League of Nations ceased to exist.

It was succeeded by the United Nations.

The work on the model tax treaties was, however, continued by the Organization of

European Economic Co-oporation, or OEEC and its successor organization, the OECD.

Of course, these organizations could build on the work already done

by the League of Nations.

In 1963 this led to a complete model tax treaty, and the commentary thereon.

In an official recommendation

the council of the OECD recommended its member states to use this model and

commentary as a basis for their bilateral tax treaty negotiations.

In 1977 the OECD published a partially revised Model Tax Convention and

Commentary, once again sanctioned by a recommendation of the OECD council.

In 1992 the Model Tax Convention was published in a loose leaf format.

The impact of the OECD's Model Tax Convention has extended

far beyond the OECD area.

As this commentary states, it has been used as a reference document

in negotiations between OECD member countries, between OECD member countries

and non-member countries, and even between non-member countries.

Also, the subsequently developed United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention

between developed and

developing countries has been influenced greatly by the OECD model

just as the interpretation of the thousands of

existing bilateral tax treaties today.

So, now you know how the OECD

has obtained such a prominent position in the international tax arena

and why they are best placed to take on the current issues

of double non-taxation and base erosion and profit shifting.

The European Union is also playing its part in respect of these current issues.

But its historic credentials are far less appealing.

To be honest, the EU has almost not been able to to do anything in the area of

international tax law since it was founded by the Treaty of Rome in 1957.

Apart from a few directives on intercompany payments of dividends,

interest, and royalties

and the tax treatment of mergers, not a lot has been achieved.

It would not surprise me, if the European Commission,

the EU's executive body, would see the current crisis in international tax law as

a great opportunity to raise the EU's profile in the international tax arena.

By applying EU state aid rules to the tax affairs of multinational companies, and

by proposing new EU legislation of the harmonization of corporate income

taxation in Europe, and greater transparency in international tax matters.

So, now you also know why the EU has such a prominent position in the current

debate on international taxation.

Let's continue now to the next video where we will really get to work,

as we put together a tax planning base case, which we will study for

the remainder of this course.

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