International Fiscal Association – författare

Environmental Taxes and Charges describes and analyzes the experiences that have accrued with such eco-taxes as are already in existence or whose introduction is being planned in various countries.

Besides a description of the different taxes and charges in use, and their technical design, the book also covers the motives underlying the taxes and charges, and important aspects of their consequences for the environment, revenue and internal competition.

The question of whether there are internationally recognized anti-avoidance rules that are applied to tax treaties involves two subsidiary questions: (1) Whether international law recognizes the concept of abuse of rights, fraus legis (2) Whether this concept of abuse of rights, fraus legis, the business purpose test, etc., can be applied to tax treaties.

The book then turns to the question of whether provisions included in the tax code that are expressly designed to re-characterize or deal with transactions that are considered to result in unacceptable avoidance of tax under the code can be extended and applied where there is an unacceptable avoidance of tax by virtue of the application of a tax treaty provision.

This Seminar focused not only on the technical consideration of Secondary Aspects but also on the underlying philosophical question: namely, should secondary adjustments be employed at all and, if so, what are the appropriate limitations on their use?

While a ''corresponding adjustment'' may be appropriate in order to avoid double taxation, other secondary adjustments, such as ''conforming adjustments'' and ''reclassification of income'' are more problematic.

In this book you will be introduced to a labyrinth of potential adjustments that could flow from the primary transfer pricing adjustment. A glossary of terms is provided to assist the reader in sorting through the maze. You will learn about set-offs and corresponding adjustments as well as about secondary adjustments, such as reclassification of income. Following the outline are examples and diagrams that explicate the principles explained in the outline, as well as papers prepared by individual panellists.

The taxation of non-residents is a topic which has gained a great deal of attention and importance. In particular, in the field of sports, with worldwide television coverage of major events and the ever-increasing revenues generated by artists and sportspeople as well as promoters and other organizations. This has prompted the states in which such events take place to secure and increase their share in the revenues and to improve their collection systems.

This book, which reflects the proceedings of a seminar held in Cannes, France in 1995 chaired by Dr Jürgen Killius, contributes to the understanding of the income tax status of artists, sportspersons and loan-out companies in the state in which they perform their artistic or sports activities.

This topic relates mainly to cross-border mergers and acquisitions because it is generally, but not always, upon mergers and acquisitions that stapled stock and dividend access shares are implemented, in order to enable the shareholders in the target company to retain after the merger some of the tax benefits which were associated with their prior shareholding.

This topic also relates to non-discrimination because most of the tax systems have different tax treatments for foreign shares and domestic shares, both with respect to capital taxation and dividend income taxation.

What will happen to the tax system as we know it in the 21st Century?

Other symposiums have examined already-existing trends and have looked at development in the near future. But unlike the others, the Jubilee Symposium organised by the IFA to mark its 50th IFA Congress took a uniquely long-term look at tax system development.

This book comprises the symposium outline, the two key-note papers, and the main points of the panel discussion, including the chairperson s introductions to the different segments of the discussions. The discussion focuses on several key questions:

Visions of the Tax Systems of the XXIst Century also covers indirect taxes, labour taxation, capital taxation, and business taxation.

Practitioners, academics, and others concerned with the future of the field will find this an interesting and thought-provoking work.

The formation of economic groupings to foster free trade among sovereign member states is one of the most remarkable developments of the second half of the 20th century. These groupings, unlike those of a federal state, fall short of political union status. In the area of taxation, however, an economic grouping and a federal state with concurrent taxing authorities share common issues.

The papers in this book were prepared for a recent panel on the subject at the 50th Congress of the International Fiscal Association (IFA). The panel brought participants from various parts of the globe together to examine the United States of America, Australia, and Brazil as federal states and the European Union as a non-federal economic grouping.

The conference discussion centered on four principles:

Through these various topics emerges the conclusion that, despite the universal recognition that the taxing power of individual member states must be limited, no single solution will achieve the overriding goal of the free flow of goods, capital, and people.

The interaction between accounting, company law, and taxation is a key issue in corporate regulation. These three areas have differing kinds of regulations with different objectives and varied techniques of regulation and interpretation. Moreover, views on all of these factors vary from country to country.

How these fields interact has significant ramifications. It affects the future development of both accounting regulation and tax law and raises the possibility of international double taxation. These potential effects suggest the need not only for better analysis in this area but also for a harmonised international view.

The Influence of Corporate Law and Accounting Principles in Determining Taxable Income takes a thoughtful look at several components of this key debate. The papers included offer insights into the different paths taken on the various issues by selected countries, cites problems, and offers proposals for the future. Tax and corporate law practitioners, policymakers, and academics will appreciate the insightful and thought-provoking quality of this work.

The seminar in Toronto on ''The OECD Model Convention 1994 and Beyond'', of which this book is the Proceedings, opened with high-ranking representatives of the OECD who reported on current and upcoming OECD work relating to the Convention and its Official Commentary.

Subsequently, a panel composed of IFA members discussed the necessity and possibility of adapting Article 10 of that Model to tax systems with corporate tax integration. The book contains the papers presented and discussed by the panel.

With the globalization of the world''s economies, the elimination of barriers to mobility within trade blocks, and the growth of consolidated multinational businesses, the movement of employees and independent contractors is an obvious feature of modern commercial life.

While labour mobility may not yet be as free as capital mobility, the ground is closing. A logical response to the increased mobility of labour would be a gradual convergence of different countries'' tax rules applying to expatriates, as nations seek to grapple with the same problem, and a growing harmonization of rules to prevent overlaps and double taxation while closing the lacunae which allow taxpayers to escape taxation completely.

As the papers in this volume show, however, the legislatures responsible for drafting tax laws and the tax authorities responsible for administering them are many steps behind commercial developments. Indeed, if anything, the gap is widening--different, sometimes dramatically different, approaches between jurisdictions are revealed.

It is, therefore, to be hoped that governments turn their attention to the problems raised in this volume and explore appropriate paths for unilateral or multilateral resolution of these issues.

Those in the international law field greatly appreciate the seminar on development and selected topics of the OECD Model Tax Convention organized jointly by OECD and IFA as a regular feature of IFA Congresses.

The OECD Model Convention--1996 and Beyond offers accounts of the papers delivered and the discussions held in the context of this popular seminar at IFA''s Congress of Geneva in September 1996. The seminar comprised two components:

Using presumptions improves the admissibility of a tax while lowering its accuracy. The key question that arises: to what extent the former benefit justifies the latter cost. On a related issue, some in the field believe that presumptive taxation should be considered a permanent supplement or even a replacement for the more traditional tax system. Others see it as a merely transitional phase until the tax administration is capable of collecting the normal tax without the widespread use of presumptions.

Presumptive taxation raises both theoretical and practical issues of great importance. From a policy perspective, the extent to which presumptions can operate to simplify the task of administration without fundamentally changing the tax base is a key issue. From a practical perspective, the fundamental issue in presumptive taxation is the trade-off between accuracy and administrability.

The papers collected in this book reflect the broad diversity of presumptive taxation types in use today. They speak to the overall theme that presumptive taxation is a widespread form of taxation, not limited to developing countries, which can be helpful whenever administering normal tax base proves too challenging.

Tax practitioners, policymakers, and others interested in the direction of tax assessment will appreciate the topicality of this work on a controversial subject.

This part of the IFA Seminar Series focuses on two aspects of the definition of permanent establishments: whether and when the provision of services may constitute a permanent establishment concept.

The papers delivered at the seminar and the discussions among panelists and congress participants from the floor are reproduced in this booklet.

The 1998 seminar considered whether the OECD Guidelines had started to influence tax legislation or the practice of Revenue authorities. The seminar reviewed recent developments in transfer pricing legislation throughout the world. It considered the results of a questionnaire to multinational groups in the Association, and the views of panel members and other participants.

The OECD Model Tax Convention seminar is a regular feature of the annual IFA Congress. At the 1998 Congress, held in London, the seminar focused on the relationship between tax treaties and domestic laws in OECD member countries.

After general surveys by two high-ranking OECD officials of relevant issues and developments in the Working Groups of the OECD''s Committee of Fiscal Affairs during the course of the preceding year, the 1998 seminar offered two topics - on the concept of beneficial ownership, and on the characterization of retirement income - which were opened for discussion among panelists and attendees.

The discussion shed significant light on the inter-relatedness of cross-border pensions, deferred compensation, and anti-abuse provisions as they appear in bilateral tax treaties, domestic laws, and the Model Convention.

This handy volume reprints in full all the papers presented at this important seminar, along with the subsequent discussions. Practitioners and academics interested in the development and application of the OECD Model Tax Convention will appreciate its valuable insights.

Using case studies, this seminar attempts to clarify the concept of abusive application of tax treaties and whether the concept of abuse is a domestic one or one of treaty law.

To the extent that the concept of abuse is a purely domestic one, the question arises how domestic anti-avoidance rules affect double taxation conventions and to what extent one contracting state, for the purpose of taxation, should be prepared to consider the other contracting state''s notion of abuse.

To the extent that the concept of abuse is one of treaty law, it has to be clarified whether such a concept is known in Treaty law as an unwritten rule or whether the treaties need to include an express provision. Another important question in this respect is whether abusive use of tax treaties by contracting states is possible, e.g. by denying the access to the treaty or by implementing exit charges in the national legislation.

What is or can be the role of the OECD in this process and to what extent does EC law innuence the way abuse of tax treaties can be tackled?

The Seminar will examine the tax effects in a particular jurisdiction of reorganisations taking place in another jurisdiction. The covered reorganisations include mergers, divisions or splits, but also change of legal form (e.g., partnership into a company) and transfer of the corporate seat.

The Seminar will focus on the following:

This is a companion Seminar to Subject II of the Congress (The tax treatment of transfer of residence by individuals). While Subject II addresses emigration and immigration taxes in income tax law, the Seminar will focus on death taxes. We will start with an outline of emigration taxes imposed by the domestic death tax laws of majors countries, whether and how they try to avoid double taxation, and how tax conventions are used or might be used to eliminate cases of double taxation. This will be followed by brief discussions of the overlap of gift and death taxes in cases of a change of residence, conflicts of taxation which arise if one country imposes a capital gains tax in the event of death while the other state uses a death tax, as well as potential conflicts between death taxes and wealth taxes.