Tax Avoidance And European Law

Tax law is one of the legal fields with the most subtle influence on European integration and EU law. The European economic cooperation project emerged with the customs union, essentially a tax law concept, and evolved alongside other topics of tax harmonization. Still, the existence of the EU tax law is disputed. The research on the topic is significant, as the integration of national economies and markets has increased substantially, both within the EU and globally. This has put a strain on domestic tax rules, which are subject to the demands of the international taxation requirements. This book explores the relationship between tax avoidance regulation and sovereignty within the European Union, analyzing the impact of the effective regulatory methods for limiting and eliminating aggressive tax planning by multinational companies. Focusing on analyzing good practice in fiscal regulation efficiency and the results generated by the tax jurisprudence both at national and European level, its main objective is to present the argument for inter-dependency between taxation and the current changes in the concept of sovereignty. It highlights where fiscal regulation has led to uniform, yet flexible, solutions for the actual fight against companies’ abusive fiscal conduct, when taking advantage of tax competition. This text will be of value to academics, researchers, and advanced students in tax law and tax avoidance regulation and their intersection with sovereignty in the context of the European Union.

Following each Member State's need to rebuild a strong and stable economy after the 2007 financial crisis, the European Union (EU) has developed a robust new transparency framework with binding anti-abuse measures and stronger instruments to challenge external threats of base erosion. This is the first and only book to provide a complete detailed analysis of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Package and other recent and ongoing European actions taken in direct taxation. With contributions from both prominent tax academics and Spain's delegates to the European meetings where these rules are debated and promulgated, the book covers such issues and topics as the following: – the development of the EU Strategy towards Aggressive Tax Planning; – recent tax-related jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice; – the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive; – tax treaties and non-tax treaties with tax consequences both between Member States and between Member States and third countries; – code of conduct for business taxation; – automatic exchange of information; – country-by-country reporting; – arbitration in tax matters; – external strategy for effective taxation regarding non-EU countries; – competition and state aid developments in direct taxation; – the Common Consolidated Tax Base; and – digital significant presence and permanent establishment. As the EU pursues its ambitious tax agenda, taxation's contribution to EU growth and competitiveness and its part in relations with the rest of the world will come into ever clearer focus. In addition to its insights into these trends, the book's unparalleled practical information and analysis will be of great value to tax practitioners dealing with investment analysis, tax planning schemes, and other features of the current international tax landscape.

This book provides a concise, practical guide to the European Union’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD). Presenting unique insights into the ATAD’s five specific anti-avoidance rules, its chapters explain the background of those rules, the directive’s interactions with relevant jurisprudence, and the challenges posed to the ATAD’s interpretation and implementation in domestic law.

Basic knowledge of European Tax Law This concise handbook has become a traditional instrument for gaining basic knowledge of European tax law with emphasis on direct taxes. It is directed at students, experienced international tax specialists with little knowledge of European law, European law specialists and non-Europeans who deal with Europe for business or academic reasons and need to understand the foundations of European tax law. Moreover, this book can be useful to academics without a legal background in approaching technical issues raised by European Union tax law, as well as give inspiration to the most experienced European direct tax law experts. This seventh edition further refines and updates the content, but also enhances the coordination across the chapter and the selection of case law in line with the weight that it carries for the development of European tax law. An indispensable consultation tool - Introduction to European Tax Law on Direct Taxation.

This handbook is a concise guide for all those who aim at obtaining a basic knowledge of European tax law. Designed for students, it should also be useful for experienced international tax specialists with little knowledge of European law, European law specialists who are reluctant to approach the technicalities of direct taxation and non-Europeans who deal with Europe for business or academic reasons and need to understand the foundations of European tax law. This book should also help academics without a legal background to approach the technical issues raised by European Union tax law. This edition contains selected relevant information available as of 30 June 2022. It retains all of the features and tools contained in the previous editions (including the final charts, which our readers very much appreciate). In this edition we have also included a list of relevant documents and a selection of reference textbooks on European tax law in five languages, which we found of potential interest to our readers.

This book deals with all the EC law norms that are relevant from the perspective of direct taxes. It explains how these norms are, and should be, interpreted and how they affect national tax laws and the tax treatment in EU Member States. It begins by giving a comprehensive overview of the basic principles and concepts of EC tax law and all relevant articles of the EC Treaty, analysing them in the light of direct tax case law. A discussion follows covering all relevant EC directives and recommendations and other soft law material on direct taxes. Reference is made to all relevant judgments of the EC Court on direct taxes. The book includes a chapter on the tax treatment of the different EU entity forms and the future of corporate taxation, with a separate chapter dedicated to the EC law issues related to transfer pricing and to the EC law norms on administrative assistance in tax matters.

Despite the conclusion of tax treaties and despite the enactment of several directives, double taxation continues to occur within the EU, causing severe obstacles for cross-border trade, for the provision of services and capital, and for the free movement of persons. This book collects the expert analysis and recommendations on the following issues: the reasons for the existence (and persistence) of juridical and economic double taxation; double burdens in criminal law; constitutional limits for double taxation; the Lisbon Treaty's abolition of Article 293 EC, which had required Member States to conclude tax treaties in order to abolish double taxation; whether double taxation can be avoided by the application of the four freedoms; prospects for an EU-wide multilateral tax treaty; the proposed Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base; and use of arbitration clauses in tax treaties.

This unique book investigates the extent tot which a taxpayer may invoke the freedom of movement within the Community in order to avoid national direct taxes. A Member State's right to protect its taxing authority and tax jurisdiction may collide with a Union citizen's right to free movement under Community law. The author shows what at the national level is viewed as abuse may often be viewed from an EC law perspective as invoking the Treaty freedoms. As his starting point, the author describes relevant Community law as it stands at present, whereby Member States are exclusively authorized to determine the types, tax bases, rates, and procedural aspects of direct taxes. He goes on to examine the possibilities offered by primary EC law to cross-border taxpayers who seek to avoid tax, basing his presentation on an in-depth analysis of the tax and non-tax case law of the Court of Justice of the European Communities. Among the issues raised in the course of the analysis are the following: applicability of each of the freedoms of the citizen, of goods, of workers, of establishment, of services, and of capital;tests entailed by Community law: the economic activity test, the artificiality test, and the substance test;the extent to which holding and letterbox companies may invoke the freedom of movement; andthe fiscal cohesion justification. The author describes the implicit concept of avoidance that the Court apparently uses by examining its tax and non-tax decisions in avoidance-like cases, thus offering a valuable discussion of whether the anti-abuse doctrine development by the Court is a principle of Community law. In its thorough investigation of a major current manifestation of the emblematic conflict between state taxing authority and personal freedom, this thoughtful and well-researched analysis will be of great value to tax professionals, officials, and academics not only on Europe but wherever this fundamental problem in tax law applies.

The EU's Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), implemented in January 2019, confronts Member States with complex challenges, particularly via the introduction of an interest limitation rule. This timely book, the first in-depth analysis of the features and implications of the directive, provides insightful and practical discussions by experts from around Europe on the crucial interactions of the ATAD with other existing anti-tax avoidance measures, the European financial sector and the fundamental freedoms. Specific issues and topics covered include the following: relation with the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit Sharing project (BEPS) and the EU's Common Corporate Tax Base initiative; technical subjects relating to corporate taxation and debt funding; problems caused by the diametrically opposite tax treatment of debt and equity within a group of companies; exclusion clauses for interest expenses; and interplay between interest limitation rules and anti-hybrid rules. A comparative analysis of implementation issues in four leading Member States--Germany, Italy, Spain and The Netherlands--as well as a global general survey with regard to interest limitation rules allow readers to assess the particular complexities associated to the implementation of the ATAD. This matchless commentary by leading European tax law academics and practitioners on an important and much-debated item of EU legislation gives practitioners, enterprises and tax authorities an early opportunity to understand the practical effects of the directive in the various Member States.

This book examines recent developments and high-profile debates that have arisen in the field of international tax law and European tax law. Topics such as international tax avoidance, corporate social responsibility, good governance in tax matters, harmful tax competition, state aid, tax treaty abuse and the financial transaction tax are considered. The OECD/G20 project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) features prominently in the book. The interaction with the European Union's Action Plan to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax evasion is also considered. Particular attention is paid to specific BEPS deliverables, exploring them through the prism of European Union law. Can the two approaches be aligned or are there inherent conflicts between them? The book also explores whether, when it comes to aggressive tax planning, there are internal conflicts between the established case law of the Court of Justice and the emerging policy of the European institutions. By so doing it offers a review of issues which are of constitutional importance to the European Union. Finally, the book reflects on the future of international and European tax law in the post-BEPS world.