Book Description

This book discusses the practical issues faced by the banks, financial institutions, companies engaging in leasing as a form of asset financing, and their tax advisers. The book elaborately deals with the divergent tax treatment in the five most important leasing jurisdictions (ie, US, Japan, Germany, UK and Netherlands) in respect of transaction characterization, depreciation, income-recognition and anti-avoidance rules, as well as divergence in the relevant bilateral tax treaty provisions. Further, the book investigates how the parties to a cross-border leasing transaction may obtain tax advantages due to such divergent tax treatments, and whether and to what extent the general or specific anti-avoidance rules in the jurisdictions may neutralize the tax arbitrage opportunities. Finally, it examines how the framework of the EC Treaty may be relevant for cross-border leasing transactions between the EC Member States.