Book Description

A detailed and comprehensive study of the issues faced by judiciaries when dealing with tax treaty law cases. It begins with an overview of some of the questions that domestic courts have to deal with when facing treaty cases. It then provides a comparative look into the structure of tax judiciaries and the issues raised by the burden of proof in cases dealing with the application of tax treaties. The different approaches of judiciaries of common law and civil law countries are also taken into consideration. A particular focus is devoted to the interaction between European law principles and bilateral tax treaties, both from the point of view of national judges and the Court of Justice of the European Communities, as well as the relevance of foreign court decision in interpreting tax treaties and the twofold influence between decisions issued by national courts and the Commentaries to the OECD Model Tax Convention. Individual country surveys provide an in-depth analysis on how national courts face cases dealing with the application of tax treaties, with a particular emphasis on issues raised by tax treaty interpretation. Lastly, the book deals with issues raised by judicial treaty override, proposes solutions to resolve judicial errors in the context of international tax law and analyses the procedural conditions for the implementation of tax treaty obligations under domestic law.