Limiting Base Erosion


Book Description

Limiting base erosion from different viewpoints Hybrid mismatch arrangements, CFC rules, transfer pricing rules: “Limiting Base Erosion”, the general topic for the master theses of the part-time LL.M. program 2015-2017, has been one of the most controversial topics in international tax law ever since the initiation of the OECD BEPS Project in 2013. Even though the final reports of the 15 BEPS Actions were released by the OECD in as early as October 2015, the question how to effectively target base erosion practices still has not lost any of its topicality. Following the efforts of the OECD in developing a new international tax environment, the focus of attention has now partly shifted to the OECD Member countries that have to properly implement the OECD recommendations in their domestic laws as well as in their tax treaty practice. In this respect, a comprehensive analysis in the literature of all the issues related to base erosion proves to be of the utmost importance in order to provide practical guidance to the Member countries during that the process of implementation. This book deals especially with four key areas of interest:Limiting base erosion by neutralizing the effects of hybrid mismatch arrangementsLimiting base erosion by strengthening CFC rulesMeasures against base erosion via interest deductions and other financial paymentsLimiting base erosion by improving transfer pricing rules.On that basis, 27 concrete topics were chosen in order to address the four key areas of interest from different viewpoints. Base erosion and the challenges they present: read more in “Limiting Base Erosion”.




Corporate Taxation, Group Debt Funding and Base Erosion


Book Description

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.




OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project Limiting Base Erosion Involving Interest Deductions and Other Financial Payments, Action 4 - 2015 Final Report


Book Description

Addressing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is a key priority of governments. In 2013, OECD and G20 countries, working together on an equal footing, adopted a 15-point Action Plan to address BEPS. This publication is the final report for Action 4.




OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project Limiting Base Erosion Involving Interest Deductions and Other Financial Payments, Action 4 - 2016 Update Inclusive Framework on BEPS


Book Description

The 2015 Report on BEPS Action 4 established a common approach which directly links an entity’s net interest deductions to its level of economic activity, based on taxable EBITDA. Further work on two aspects of the common approach was completed in 2016 and this is included in this update.




Addressing Base Erosion and Profit Shifting


Book Description

This report presents studies and data available regarding the existence and magnitude of base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), and contains an overview of global developments that have an impact on corporate tax matters.




Limiting Base Erosion Involving Interest Deductions and Other Financial Payments, Action 4 - 2016 Update


Book Description

The 2015 Report established a common approach which directly links an entity's net interest deductions to its level of economic activity, based on taxable earnings before interest income and expense, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA).




OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project Preventing the Artificial Avoidance of Permanent Establishment Status, Action 7 - 2015 Final Report


Book Description

Addressing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is a key priority of governments. In 2013, OECD and G20 countries, working together on an equal footing, adopted a 15-point Action Plan to address BEPS. This publication is the final report for Action 7.




Preventing the Artificial Avoidance of Permanent Establishment Status


Book Description

This report includes changes to the definition of permanent establishment in the OECD Model Tax Convention that will address strategies used to avoid having a taxable presence in a country under tax treaties. These changes will ensure that where the activities that an intermediary exercises in a country are intended to result in the regular conclusion of contracts to be performed by a foreign enterprise, that enterprise will be considered to have a taxable presence in that country unless the intermediary is performing these activities in the course of an independent business. The changes will also restrict the application of a number of exceptions to the definition of permanent establishment to activities that are preparatory or auxiliary nature and will ensure that it is not possible to take advantage of these exceptions by the fragmentation of a cohesive operating business into several small operations; they will also address situations where the exception applicable to construction sites is circumvented through the splitting-up contracts between closely related enterprises.







Curbing Corporate Debt Bias


Book Description

Tax provisions favoring corporate debt over equity finance (“debt bias”) are widely recognized as a risk to financial stability. This paper explores whether and how thin-capitalization rules, which restrict interest deductibility beyond a certain amount, affect corporate debt ratios and mitigate financial stability risk. We find that rules targeted at related party borrowing (the majority of today’s rules) have no significant impact on debt bias—which relates to third-party borrowing. Also, these rules have no effect on broader indicators of firm financial distress. Rules applying to all debt, in contrast, turn out to be effective: the presence of such a rule reduces the debt-asset ratio in an average company by 5 percentage points; and they reduce the probability for a firm to be in financial distress by 5 percent. Debt ratios are found to be more responsive to thin capitalization rules in industries characterized by a high share of tangible assets.