Suchergebnisse

Much of what I will say here today is distilled from articles that I have written and things I have learned in putting together a book called Foundations of International Taxation. It is difficult enough to fashion sensible tax policy in the domestic arena. The debate, for example, over whether the United States should impose a value-added tax has some international aspects, but it is primarily a debate about domestic policy. This is true generally about the debate over how much we should rely on income versus consumption taxation. This debate amply illustrates how hard it is to obtain agreement on principles when we have, what Fred Goldberg calls, one Caesar claiming the revenues. In international affairs, we have at least two Caesars-two national governments – with legitimate claims to tax the income. We must decide how to divide the tax dollars between the two Caesars. Multinational corporations strive to pay taxes to neither. Disputes are inevitable. It is therefore very important to think about the underlying principles of international taxation and to be explicit about what we are trying to achieve.

This law school casebook extracts materials from scholarly literature on international income tax law and provides context for these materials, to enhance an understanding of the institutions that shape this area of law and underlying policy debates. Designed for use as a principal text, it may also be used as supplemental reading, with topics assigned as they are taken up in the course or assigned or recommended to students to read on their own. ; https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/1103/thumbnail.jpg

Because of the importance of technological innovation to economic growth, nations strive to stimulate and attract the research and development ("R&D") that leads to that innovation and to make themselves hospitable environments for the holding of intellectual property ("IP"). Tax policies have taken center stage in their efforts to accomplish these goals and to capture a share of the income from technological innovations. Designing cost-effective methods of supporting technological innovations has, however, become substantially more difficult as the world economy has become more interconnected. Where R&D is performed and where income is earned change in response to the nature and level of government support. The capacity of multinational enterprises ("MNEs") to shift their IP production, IP ownership, and IP income across national borders, along with their ability to establish new corporations in tax-favorable jurisdictions, makes designing cost-effective incentives exceptionally difficult. Devising appropriate tax rules for developing IP and for taxing IP income has become the central challenge for international income taxation. This Article examines the three primary tax policies supporting innovation: (1) incentives for R&D, (2) "patent boxes," and (3) tax benefits for "advanced manufacturing." It then briefly describes common techniques MNEs use to lower their taxes on IP income. The Article then assesses the various incentives and offers recommendations about how the United States might respond to challenges it now faces in promoting technological innovation. Based on extensive examination of the economic evidence, the Article concludes that, at most, only R&D incentives are justified. This Article also summarizes the current proposals for limiting opportunities for U.S. MNEs to shift IP income to low- or zero-tax jurisdictions. In that connection, it offers proposals for change that would more closely align U.S. taxes with U.S. sales.

Because of the importance of technological innovation to economic growth, nations strive to stimulate and attract the research and development ("R&D") that leads to that innovation and to make themselves hospitable environments for the holding of intellectual property ("IP"). Tax policies have taken center stage in their efforts to accomplish these goals and to capture a share of the income from technological innovations. Designing cost-effective methods of supporting technological innovations has, however, become substantially more difficult as the world economy has become more interconnected. Where R&D is performed and where income is earned change in response to the nature and level of government support. The capacity of multinational enterprises ("MNEs") to shift their IP production, IP ownership, and IP income across national borders, along with their ability to establish new corporations in tax-favorable jurisdictions, makes designing cost-effective incentives exceptionally difficult. Devising appropriate tax rules for developing IP and for taxing IP income has become the central challenge for international income taxation. This Article examines the three primary tax policies supporting innovation: (1) incentives for R&D, (2) "patent boxes," and (3) tax benefits for "advanced manufacturing." It then briefly describes common techniques MNEs use to lower their taxes on IP income. The Article then assesses the various incentives and offers recommendations about how the United States might respond to challenges it now faces in promoting technological innovation. Based on extensive examination of the economic evidence, the Article concludes that, at most, only R&D incentives are justified. This Article also summarizes the current proposals for limiting opportunities for U.S. MNEs to shift IP income to low- or zero-tax jurisdictions. In that connection, it offers proposals for change that would more closely align U.S. taxes with U.S. sales.

"This book presents the principles and design of international taxation of trust income and distributions as a coherent subject of international tax law. It begins with the trust tax rules and international settings of four countries -- Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States -- focusing on the attribution of trust income to the grantor/settlor, the beneficiary or the trust entity, trust residence, and the taxation of trust distributions. Having identified the international taxing principles that those countries apply to trusts, it infers a range of principles and settings that may be applied by countries generally and examines how the interaction of those settings may lead to double- or non-taxation overall. Consideration is given to conflicts of attribution, hybridity and fiscally homeless trusts. The book examines the interaction of tax laws in non-treaty and treaty situations and puts these interactions in context as part of the broader international tax order and recommendations of the OECD/G20 BEPS project. It proposes an approach to tax design based on an ordered overview of different taxing claims and the interests which they represent, respect for the fiscal sovereignty of countries concerned, and recognition of the differing roles of national laws and tax treaties."

Publicity about tax avoidance techniques of multinational corporations and wealthy individuals has moved discussion of international income taxation from the backrooms of law and accounting firms to the front pages of news organizations around the world. In the words of a top Australian tax official, international tax law has now become a topic of barbeque conversations. Public anger has, in turn, brought previously arcane issues of international taxation onto the agenda of heads of government around the world. Despite all the attention, however, issues of international income taxation are often not well understood. In this collection of essays, written over the past two decades, renowned tax expert Michael J. Graetz reveals how current international tax policy came into place nearly a century ago, critiques the inadequate principles still being used to make international tax policy, identifies and dissects the most prevalent tax avoidance techniques, and offers important suggestions for reform. This book is indispensable for anyone interested in international income taxation. ; https://scholarship.law.columbia.edu/books/1033/thumbnail.jpg

Publicity about tax avoidance techniques of multinational corporations and wealthy individuals has moved discussion of international income taxation from the backrooms of law and accounting firms to the front pages of news organizations around the world. In the words of a top Australian tax official, international tax law has now become a topic of barbeque conversations. Public anger has, in turn, brought previously arcane issues of international taxation onto the agenda of heads of government around the world. Despite all the attention, however, issues of international income taxation are often not well understood. This Introduction outlines a collection of essays, written over the past two decades, that reveals how current international tax policy came into place nearly a century ago, critiques the inadequate principles still being used to make international tax policy, identifies and dissects the most prevalent tax avoidance techniques, and offers important suggestions for reform.

A basic similarity between the Chinese approach to international income taxation and that of many other countries is the two-tiered system China uses to tax inbound foreign investments: some items of income earned by foreigners are taxed on a gross-income basis, primarily by way of withholding, while others are taxed on a net-income basis, through the filing of annual tax returns that account for both income and expenses. In the U.S., as a comparative example, whether an item of income is subject to one or the other mode of taxation turns upon whether the foreign recipient of income is engaged in a "trade or business" in the U.S. and whether the income is "effectively connected" with such U.S. trade or business. In China, a similar determination for a foreign non-individual taxpayer depends on whether the foreign entity's income is effectively connected with an "establishment or site" ("jigouchangsuo," or "establishment" for short) in China.

This is a study of the current legal framework of international taxation of income between Russia and the Balkan states – Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia. The author analyses existing tax treaty provisions, both bilateral and multilateral, with focus on three main issues – elimination of international juridical double taxation, international administrative cooperation in tax matters and counteraction to tax avoidance and evasion. For the elimination of international juridical double taxation, the comparative research covers tie-breaker rules, distribute rules and methods for the elimination of double taxation as set in the related double tax treaties. The author identifies similarities and differences in the mechanisms used in relations between Russia and the Balkan states. The analysis of the bilateral and multilateral framework for administrative cooperation in tax matters leads to the conclusion that the exchange of information remains the main form of administrative assistance, with application of other forms being limited due to numerous reservations of the states. The exiting regulation of the counteraction to tax avoidance and evasion does not meet the modern standards and provides for a limited scope of special anti-avoidance rules. Six agreements between Russia and the Balkan states are covered by the OECD Multilateral Instrument and the update of the regulation on counteraction to tax avoidance and evasion is foreseeable.