Us Tax Law The Limitation On Benefits Clause And Us National Anti Abuse Rules

Academic Paper from the year 2020 in the subject Business economics - Accounting and Taxes, grade: 1.7, University of Hamburg (IIFS), course: USA Tax Law, language: English, abstract: Double Taxation Treaties (“DTT“) are treaties between two or more countries to avoid international double taxation of income and property of individuals or legal entities. The main purpose of DTT is to divide the right taxation between the involved countries, to avoid differences in taxation and to ensure taxpayers’ equal rights and security. International tax planning has become a serious concern and companies started to shift their income to low-taxed jurisdictions. Therefore, states with a higher taxation fear for their tax revenues. That is the reason why the prevention of abusive use of tax treaty benefits became a central aspect in the tax treaty policy of most industrialized countries.

Analysis of notion, roots und measures of treaty abuse The OECD initiative on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting has put the issue of treaty abuse and the means to counter it on top of the global political agenda. Preventing treaty abuse is therefore currently one of the most debated topics in international tax law. Diverging national legal traditions in combatting abuse both under domestic and tax treaty law have led to a globally diversified legal framework in this respect and make the OECD’s agenda to harmonize these attempts even more challenging. The aim of this book is to analyze the notion of treaty abuse, its historical roots and the measures to counter it. The book’s topics cover a wide range of both policy and legal issues. The contributions’ main focus lies onanalyzing the proposals put forward by the OECD in BEPS action items 6 and 7. In addition, this book analyzes the lessons which can be learnt from the US tax treaty policy and elaborates on the effects the intensified fight against treaty abuse will have from a Non-OECD member state perspective. Also EU law is taken into account and the question raised which impact the fundamental freedoms might have on the development of new anti-avoidance rules. Finally the relation between domestic and treaty based anti-avoidance is analyzed in great detail, identifying the methodical problems of ensuring a sound and abuse safe legal framework. With this book, the authors and editors hope to contribute to the discussion on selected issues of preventing treaty abuse and the challenges they present to policy makers, judges, tax administrations and tax advisers.

"The United States Code is the official codification of the general and permanent laws of the United States of America. The Code was first published in 1926, and a new edition of the code has been published every six years since 1934. The 2012 edition of the Code incorporates laws enacted through the One Hundred Twelfth Congress, Second Session, the last of which was signed by the President on January 15, 2013. It does not include laws of the One Hundred Thirteenth Congress, First Session, enacted between January 2, 2013, the date it convened, and January 15, 2013. By statutory authority this edition may be cited "U.S.C. 2012 ed." As adopted in 1926, the Code established prima facie the general and permanent laws of the United States. The underlying statutes reprinted in the Code remained in effect and controlled over the Code in case of any discrepancy. In 1947, Congress began enacting individual titles of the Code into positive law. When a title is enacted into positive law, the underlying statutes are repealed and the title then becomes legal evidence of the law. Currently, 26 of the 51 titles in the Code have been so enacted. These are identified in the table of titles near the beginning of each volume. The Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives continues to prepare legislation pursuant to 2 U.S.C. 285b to enact the remainder of the Code, on a title-by-title basis, into positive law. The 2012 edition of the Code was prepared and published under the supervision of Ralph V. Seep, Law Revision Counsel. Grateful acknowledgment is made of the contributions by all who helped in this work, particularly the staffs of the Office of the Law Revision Counsel and the Government Printing Office"--Preface.

Upfront planning for international structures is crucial to ensure coverage under bilateral tax treaties. However, because treaty shopping – whereby a third-party national or a corporation sets up a shell company in order to minimize or eliminate income tax – can potentially be facilitated by taking advantage of double taxation conventions, companies must carefully scrutinize and comply with requirements found in the limitation on benefits (LOB) clauses in tax treaties. This second edition of the only publication directly analysing the legal framework and application of LOB clauses in double taxation conventions adds detailed coverage of such major recent developments as the recent tax treaties concluded between the United States (US) and European Union (EU) Member States, the last version of the US Model Tax Convention (2016), the OECD/G20 project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), and relevant new rulings handed down by the European Court of Justice. Among the subjects and topics covered are the following: – definition of the concepts of person and residence provided in the OECD model; – concept of beneficial owner; – application of domestic anti-avoidance rules; – adoption of specific provisions to counter the phenomenon of treaty shopping; – determination of sufficient nexus with the state of residence or a real business purpose;and – possible consequences of the incompatibility of LOB clauses with EU law. This new edition will continue to provide tax attorneys, tax professionals, and government officials with the perspective needed for effective decision-making in this realm of international taxation. Academics and researchers in taxation will also appreciate the in-depth and up-to-date coverage of this important subject.

Explains the concepts that underlie international tax law and double tax treaties and provides an insight into how international tax policy, law and practice operate to ultimately impose tax on international business and investment.