30 Aug 2008

A Multilateral Solution for the Income Tax Treatment of Interest Expenses

Proffessor Michael J. Graetz has writed A Multilateral Solution for the Income Tax Treatment of Interest Expenses on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

Recent developments - including greater taxpayer sophistication in structuring and locating international financing arrangements, increased government concerns with the role of debt in sophisticated tax avoidance techniques, and disruption by decisions of the European Court of Justice of member states' regimes limiting interest deductions - have stimulated new laws and policy controversies concerning the international tax treatment of interest expenses. National rules are in flux regarding the financing of both inbound and outbound transactions.

Heretofore, the question of the proper treatment of interest expense has generally been looked at from the perspective of either inbound or outbound investment. As a result, the issues of residence countries' limitations on interest deductions on borrowing to finance low-taxed, exempt or deferred foreign source income, on the one hand, and of source countries' restrictions on interest deductions intended to limit companies' ability to strip income from a higher-tax to a lower-tax country, on the other, have generally been treated as separate issues. A fundamental contribution of this essay is to demonstrate their linkage and to call for a multilateral solution that would address both of these problems.

The complexity, the incoherence, and the futility of countries acting independently to limit interest deductions are now clear. Worldwide allocation of interest expense by both source and resident countries would eliminate a host of problems now bedeviling nations throughout the world - problems that have produced varying, complex, and inconsistent responses among different countries, responses that frequently may result in zero or double taxation. Given the flexibility of multinational corporations to choose where to locate their borrowing and the difficulties nations have in maintaining their domestic income tax bases in the face of such flexibility, achieving a multilateral agreement for the treatment of interest expense based on a worldwide allocation should become a priority project for both source and residence countries.

27 Aug 2008

Did Blacklisting Hurt the Tax Havens?


Did Blacklisting Hurt the Tax Havens?


Robert T. Kudrle (University of Minnesota) publish this paper atPaolo Baffi Centre Research Paper No. 2008-23


Here is the Abstract:

Purpose - This paper tests the widely-held assumption that blacklisting, such as that practiced by the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) and the FATF (Financial Action Task Force), affects the volume of financial activity associated with a tax haven.

Design/Methodology/Approach - ARIMA (autoregressive integrated moving average) analysis is used to explore changes across eight measures of in banking-associated activity that occurred when a tax haven was placed on, or removed from, one FATF and two OECD blacklists.

Findings - The results are highly varied. Most importantly, no substantial and consistent impact of blacklisting on banking investment in and out of the tax havens was found across 38 jurisdictions.

Practical implications - The role of "speech acts" - unconnected with other developments in the havens or foreign policy measures beyond rhetoric - may not be as important for tax haven investment as previously thought.

Originality/Value - No rigorous and comprehensive study has previously been done of this important question.

Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1243695



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19 Aug 2008

Rentas inmobiliarias en España



El art. 6 Modelo OCDE, los otros Modelos (USA y ONU)y prácticamente todos los Convenios reconocen el derecho a gravar las rentas de los bienes inmuebles en el Estado de la fuente; en este caso, el país donde el bien inmueble se haya situado.

Los Convenios firmados por España, salvo en el caso de Austria, reconocen la posibilidad de que un gravamen compartido, aunque dando preeminencia al Estado de la fuente.

Para la determinación de la renta inmobiliaria aquí rige la ley interna del Estado que aplica el Convenio, y no la ley del lugar donde el inmueble está situado. España ha considerado que serán gravados tanto si el rendimiento es real (alquileres) como si es estimado (uso propio).

Un derecho de opción de compra sobre bienes inmuebles no recibe, en principio, el tratamiento de bien inmueble a los efectos del art. 6, salvo que la legislación interna lo diga así expresamente.

Establecimiento Permanente

El art. 6.4 del Modelo OCDE impone un criterio de preferencia del art. 6 sobre el del E.P. en el caso de rentas inmobiliarias. El Estado de la fuente tiene derecho prioritario a gravar las rentas inmobiliarias, aunque estas formen parte de un E.P. o de una base fija. Será la legislación interna del Estado de la fuente quien determinará si se gravan como rentas empresariales o rentas inmobiliarias. En ambos casos habrá tributación.

Pero no se considera que opera mediante establecimiento permanente en España, una persona no residente que dispone en territorio español de inmuebles arrendados, pues de acuerdo con la normativa fiscal española, el mero arrendamiento de bienes inmuebles no es uno de los supuestos conceptuados como establecimiento permanente.

Base imponible

La base imponible cuando un no residente tiene en España un inmueble arrendado será el importe que por todos los conceptos reciba del arrendatario, incluido, en su caso, el correspondiente a todos aquellos bienes cedidos con el inmueble y excluido el Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido. De la renta íntegra así obtenida no se admite la deducción de gasto alguno.

Derechos de multipropiedad (Time Sharing)

El Convenio con el Reino Unido establece que los rendimientos de la titularidad de estos derechos de un residente inglés, por ejemplo, sobre los inmuebles situados en España, sólo serán gravados en el Reino Unido si éstos derechos no exceden de 4 semanas al año.

Gravamen especial sobre bienes inmuebles de entidades no residentes

Las entidades no residentes que sean propietarias o posean en España bienes inmuebles están sujetas al Impuesto sobre la Renta de no Residentes mediante un Gravamen Especial que se devenga el 31 de diciembre de cada año y deberá ingresarse en el mes de enero siguiente.

La base imponible está constituida por el valor catastral de los bienes inmuebles y el tipo de gravamen es del 3%.

Este impuesto no viene limitado en su aplicación por los Convenios, dado que no se trata de un tributo sobre la renta, sino de un tributo que recae directamente sobre el inmueble, y cuyo objeto imponible no es tanto su rendimiento como su valor. No obstante, me permito no compartir esta idea, más aún en un contexto de eliminación general de los impuestos sobre el Patrimonio.

No obstante, existen notables exenciones. Así, el Gravamen Especial no será exigible a:

a) Los Estados, Instituciones públicas extranjeras y organismos internacionales.
Entidades con derecho a la aplicación de un Convenio con cláusula de intercambio de información y siempre que las personas físicas titulares sean residentes en España o en un Estado con Convenio de estas características.

b) Entidades que desarrollen explotaciones económicas distintas de la simple tenencia o arrendamiento de inmuebles.

c) Sociedades que coticen en mercados secundarios de valores oficialmente reconocidos.

d) Entidades sin ánimo de lucro con los requisitos legales.

15 Aug 2008

US Tax Holidays



Posted by Nanette Byrnes, from Business Week. (http://www.businessweek.com/careers/managementiq/archives/2008/08/tax_holidays.html )



It’s August, so you may be on vacation. But for an awful lot of corporations operating in the US, every day is a tax holiday. So says a report out today by the US General Accounting Office highlighting the number of US- and Foreign-controlled companies that have claimed zero tax liability in recent years.


The GAO’s study was ordered up by Senator Carl Levin, Democrat from Michigan and chairman of the Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations of the Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Its conclusions focus on the fact that large foreign corporations are more likely to avoid taxes than US companies.


Like most of these studies, the GAO’s report looks at taxes as accounted for on the corporate income statement, not the cash taxes actually paid. (By that measure, 42 of the companies in the S&P500 had an actual tax rate of less than 10% over the past 5 years, another 58 paid less than 16%, and neither group paid anything like the statutory corporate tax rate of 35%).


According to the GAO, in recent years the gap in the number of US and foreign companies enjoying a tax free year has significantly narrowed. Though the authors didn’t go into exactly how both groups are sidestepping the tax man, they did indicate that transfer pricing looks to be a culprit. Transfer pricing is how much one part of a company charges another for something.


In a 2003 story on corporate taxes, we dug up and example of how this worked for hotel chain Hyatt.:
In one U.S. tax court case that is still pending, the IRS accused hotelier Hyatt International of paying too little for the Hyatt brand and other services provided by its U.S. parent. The IRS alleges that from 1976 to 1988, various Hyatt companies underreported income by $100 million because of those lowball fees. In an October, 1999, ruling on some aspects of the case, U.S. Tax Court Judge Joel Gerber ruled that the $10,000 one-time fee International had paid for each hotel bearing the Hyatt name was far too low. Hyatt declined to comment because the broad case is ongoing.


Tax economist Martin Sullivan, thinks half of the sharp drop in the foreign tax rates of U.S. multinationals — from 49.6% in 1983 to 22.2% in 1999 – is the result of similar shifting of income from foreign countries with a higher tax rate to those with lower rates.
Beyond shedding some light on the impact of transfer pricing, the report also shows:
• Fewer large foreign-controlled companies are paying no taxes today than in the past. That figure has declined since its 2001 peak of more than 50%.


• More US companies (large and small) reported zero tax liability in 2005 (the most recent year included) than foreign-controlled companies.


• 72% of foreign-controlled companies reported no tax liability some time between 1998 and 2005, while 55% of US-controlled companies did so.


• The biggest tax breaks come from deductions for salary and wages, and from a category called “other” that includes travel expenses, legal fees, and insurance, as well as dividends paid on stock owned by employee stock ownership plans.



This Blog/Web Site ("Blog") does not to provide specific legal advice, it is for educational purposes only. This Blog is made available by the international adviser, lawyer or law firm for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice.

The Blog does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state. Any comment posted on the Blog can be read by any Blog visitor; do not post confidential or sensitive information. Any links from another site to the Blog are beyond the control of us.

By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Blog.

The Blog should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional adviser or lawyer in your country.

Our firm and do not convey their approval, support or any relationship to any site or organization. The use of this Blog does not implicitly or explicitly convey any warranties or representations as to the accuracy of the information contained herein.

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This Blog takes your privacy very seriously. Our customers told us they want to see clear, easy-to-read information about our privacy commitments and policies. We have made our privacy policies easier to find and easier to read. And we're listening. We welcome your questions and feedback on our privacy policies, and invite you to contact us with your thoughts.

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http://www.jpa-iac.com/en/
http://www.braxton-co.com/en/
http://www.tax-international.com
http://www.braxton-group.com

7 Aug 2008

Using Dutch cooperatives in tax planning

Excerpt from Practical European Tax Strategies by Joseph B. Darby III, Thomas van der Vliet(Greenberg Traurig LLP) andShane Kigen (Ernst & Young)

There is a famous Dutch proverb that states, “The art is not in making money, but in keeping it.” To help achieve this laudable goal, the Dutch have thoughtfully provided a Dutch cooperative holding structure that allows multinational enterprises and private equity funds to keep a significantly greater after-tax share of the money they make.

Cooperatives have been a business form used in the Netherlands for well over a century. However, only recently have tax lawyers fully begun to exploit this distinctive vehicle in international tax planning. What makes a cooperative exciting to tax planners is its unique treatment under the Dutch dividend withholding tax. Unlike its close relatives, the Dutch private or public company (BV/NV), a cooperative is not subject to the 15 percent withholding tax on dividend distributions. The absence of a levy of dividend withholding tax makes the cooperative a logical choice as a holding company. In conjunction with the Netherlands’ extensive treaty network, a cooperative holding structure generally permits foreign members of a cooperative to repatriate profits free from Dutch withholding tax.
From http://practicaltaxstrategies.blogspot.com/

This Blog/Web Site ("Blog") does not to provide specific legal advice, it is for educational purposes only. This Blog is made available by the international adviser, lawyer or law firm for educational purposes only as well as to give you general information and a general understanding of the law, not to provide specific legal advice.

The Blog does not constitute legal advice and is not a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed attorney in your state. Any comment posted on the Blog can be read by any Blog visitor; do not post confidential or sensitive information. Any links from another site to the Blog are beyond the control of us.

By using this blog site you understand that there is no attorney client relationship between you and the Blog.

The Blog should not be used as a substitute for competent legal advice from a licensed professional adviser or lawyer in your country.

Our firm and do not convey their approval, support or any relationship to any site or organization. The use of this Blog does not implicitly or explicitly convey any warranties or representations as to the accuracy of the information contained herein.

This Blog has created this privacy statement in order to demonstrate our firm commitment to privacy. The following discloses the information gathering and dissemination practices for this Blog.

This Blog takes your privacy very seriously. Our customers told us they want to see clear, easy-to-read information about our privacy commitments and policies. We have made our privacy policies easier to find and easier to read. And we're listening. We welcome your questions and feedback on our privacy policies, and invite you to contact us with your thoughts.

Customer Privacy Controls and Choices:
• You can review and correct your Personal Information collected by us.
• You can limit certain types of solicitation communications from AT&T, including marketing contacts made via telephone, e-mail and text messaging.
• We will provide you with notice of changes to this policy.

Our privacy commitments are fundamental to the way we do business every day. These apply to everyone who has a relationship with this Blog and visitors.
• We will protect your privacy and keep your personal information safe. We use powerful encryption and other security safeguards to protect customer data, when available.
• We will not sell your personal information to anyone, for any purpose. Period.
• We will fully disclose our privacy policies in plain language, and make our policies easily accessible to you.
• We will notify you of any revisions to our privacy policy, in advance. No surprises.
• You have choices about how this Blog uses your information for marketing purposes. Customers are in control.


This Privacy Policy identifies and describes the way This Blog uses and protects the information we collect about visitors. All use of this Blog is subject to this Privacy Policy.

Use of Location Information
• When your wireless device is on, it sends periodic signals to the nearest cell site. We use that information to provide your wireless services;
• You can use your wireless device to obtain a wide array of services based on the approximate location of the device, referred to as Location Based Services, or LBS. The information you receive in connection with your use of LBS may include advertisements related to your request and your location;

Online Activity Tracking and Advertising
• We collect information about your activity on this Blog for a number of purposes using technologies such as cookies, Web beacons, widgets and server log files.
• We and our advertising partners use that information, as well as other information they have or we may have, to help tailor the ads you see on our sites and to help make decisions about ads you see on other sites.

The Information We Collect, How We Collect It, And How We Use It

We collect different types of personal and other information based on your use of our products and services and our business relationship with you. Some examples include:
• Contact Information that allows us to communicate with you -- including your name, address, telephone number, and e-mail address;
• Equipment, Performance, Site Usage, Viewing and other Technical Information about your use of our network, services, products or Web sites.

We collect information in 2 primary ways:
• You give it to us when you register to provide comments;
• We collect it automatically when you visit our Blog.

We use the information we collect in a variety of ways, including to:
• Provide you with the best visitor experience possible;
• Deliver customized content that may be of interest to you;
• Address network integrity and security issues;
• Investigate, prevent or take action regarding illegal activities, violations of our Terms of Service or Acceptable Use Policies; and
• For local directory and directory assistance purposes.

Aggregate or Anonymous Information:

We may share aggregate or anonymous information in various formats with trusted entities’ only for purposes such as:
• Our knowledge, and offer of information that may be of interest to you;
• Universities, laboratories and other entities that conduct scientific research; and
• Media research companies for general information only.

More information:

http://www.jpa-iac.com/en/
http://www.braxton-co.com/en/
http://www.tax-international.com
http://www.braxton-group.com