The main goal of this seminar is to clarify on the basis of case studies what is meant by the concept of abusive application of tax treaties and whether and to what extent the concept of abuse is a domestic one and/or one of treaty law. To the extent that the concept of abuse is a purely domestic one, the question arises how domestic anti-avoidance rules affect double taxation conventions and to what extent one contracting state, for the purpose of taxation, should be prepared to consider the other contracting state's notion of abuse. To the extent that the concept of abuse is one of treaty law, it has to be clarified whether such a concept is known in Treaty law as an unwritten rule or whether the treaties need to include an express provision. Another important question in this respect is whether abusive use of tax treaties by contracting states is possible, e.g. by denying the access to the treaty or by implementing exit charges in the national legislation. What is or can be the role of the OECD in this process and to what extent does EC law innuence the way abuse of tax treaties can be tackled?

This seminar examines the tax effects in a particular jurisdiction of reorganizations taking place in another jurisdiction. The covered reorganizations include mergers, divisions or splits, but also change of legal form (for example, partnership into a company) and transfer of the corporate seat. The seminar focuses on the following: effects in the source state of reorganizations made in the residence state; effects in the residence state of reorganizations made in the source state; impact of EC tax directives on dividends and cross-border reorganizations; and treaty issues.

It is only in the last two or three years of the 20th century that the taxation regime within the Russian Federation has achieved a relatively settled character. The clear outline of a coherent tax law system that operates throughout the Federation and all its subject administrations is available in this concise reference, written by a distinguished Russian financial and tax scholar. Among the many topics covered are: historical, economic, and political background; bases of tax competencies of the State and its subdivisions; principles of assessment and collection; rates and exemptions; determination of taxable corporate profits; penalties, anti-avoidance regulations, and rights to objection and appeal; social security administration; estate, inheritance, and gift taxes; sales and value-added taxes; import and export duties; priority in international and national tax laws; and elimination of double taxation.

This work examines the extent to which income taxation is influenced by the issue of environmental protection in EU Member States. Reports from seven countries belonging to the EUCOTAX (European Universities Cooperating on Taxes) network - Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom - investigate the relationship between environmental policy and direct taxation. The analysis covers two broad issues: the measure incorporated into personal and corporate income tax regimes to stimulate environmental protection, and the treatment of fiscal liabilities with respect to environmental legislation. The work is part of a project supported by the European Commission and the London Institute for Public Policy Research, aimed at stimulating debate about environmental tax reform in Europe. The project was coordinated by Professor Tulio Rosembuj of the University of Barcelona and Professor Peter Essers of Tilburg University, The Netherlands.

This text contains the proceedings of the IFA Congress Seminar held in 1998. The seminar considered whether the OECD Guidelines had started to influence tax legislation or the practice of Revenue authorities. The seminar reviewed developments in transfer pricing legislation throughout the world. It considered the results of a questionnaire to multinational groups in the Association, and the views of panel members and other participants.

This work makes a comparative study of the tax treatment of family units in eight European jurisdictions. Presented by a panel of leading tax law specialists, these descriptive and analytical articles focus in particular on income tax, inheritance and gift tax, property tax and social security. Issues examined in this context include the definition of "family" for tax purposes and the tax treatment of non-married couples; the relationship between constitutional principles such as protection of the family, ability to pay and non-discrimination; the concept of income for tax purposes and the treatment of living expenses; child tax allowances; separate, splitting or quotient systems; and the relationship between tax and welfare systems. The book aims to stimulate discussion of the influence of EC Treaty provisions on national tax regulations, to show how the lack of harmonisation between EU member states may affect the economic and legal position of individuals, and to identify common principles where harmonisation of family taxation may be considered. The papers are the result of a conference organised by the Academic Committee of European Tax Law, which took place in Alicante, Spain, in March 1998. The editor is Director of the Department of Tax Law at the University of Alicante, Spain. She is a former Professor of Tax Law at the Spanish universities of Valencia and Murcia, and has published widely in the field of tax law.

The tax treatment of pensions and pension schemes is undergoing a period of rapid development across the European Union. Following publication of the European Commission Green Paper on Supplementary Pensions in the Single Market in June 1997, the Council adopted a Directive on safeguarding the supplementary pension rights of employed and self-employed persons moving within the Community (Council Directive 98/49/EC of 29 June 1998). This work aims to stimulate the debate in this area, both on a national and a European level. The importance of the European dimension is apparent from an analysis of the application of EC competition rules to pension funds, particularly those funds which are granted exclusive rights to provide benefits to supplement state social security systems. It is argued that increased competition in this sector is likely to benefit pension provision in the long term. Against a background overview of the different types of pension schemes in EU Member States, the book goes on to consider the question of harmonization of certain tax rules with respect to pensions. Whereas important differences exist between the various schemes, nearly all grant some form of tax privileges aimed at encouraging supplementary provision. The need for uniform rules is most clearly shown in the application of assignment rules on tax, social security and pensions with regard to workers in cross-border situations, where various Member States apply significantly different rules. The papers collected here are the result of a seminar organized by the Foundation for European Fiscal Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam. This brochure is the seventh in a series initiated by the Foundation, which organizes postgraduate courses on European tax law, and aims to encourage research on the economic and legal aspects of tax harmonization and co-ordination in the European Union.

This part of the IFA Seminar Series focuses on two aspects of the definition of permanent establishments: whether and when the provision of services may constitute a permanent establishment concept. The papers delivered at the seminar and the discussions among panelists and congress participants from the floor are reproduced in this booklet.

This collection brings together six papers on two fundamental issues in European fiscal law. The first issue concerns the legal character of VAT and focuses on the basic principles underlying the European VAT system and their development over the last 30 years. Topics covered include the new definition of VAT based on recent case law of the European Court of Justice, the basic characteristics of VAT as a consumption tax and the distinction between the economic and legal approaches to VAT. The second issue concerns the application of general principles of law and justice in European law in general and European tax law in particular. The application of these principles is explored in detail in the context of European Court of Justice case law, direct and indirect taxation in general, and the harmonization of rules on capital income taxation and the introduction of a common withholding tax in particular. These papers are the result of a conference organized by the Foundation for European Fiscal Studies of the Erasmus University Rotterdam in honour of Fons Simons, who for seven years was responsible for the postgraduate courses and seminars at the Foundation. This brochure is the sixth in a series initiated by the Foundation, which organizes postgraduate courses on European tax law, and aims to encourage research on the economic and legal aspects of tax harmonization and co-ordination in the European Union.

Presumptive taxation raises both theoretical and practical issues of great importance. From a policy perspective, the most interesting issue is probably to what extent presumptions can be used to simplify the task of administration without fundamentally changing the tax base. From a practical perspective, the fundamental issue raised by presumptive taxation is the trade-off between accuracy and administrability. Using presumptions improves the administrability of a tax while lowering its accuracy, and the question is to what extent the former benefit justifies the latter cost. A related issue is whether presumptive taxation should be considered a permanent supplement to, or even replacement for, the more traditional tax system, or whether it should be viewed as merely a transitional phase until the tax administration is capable of collecting the normal tax without the widespread use of presumptions. The papers collected in this volume reflect the broad diversity of types of presumptive taxation in use today. The overall theme of these papers is that presumptive taxation is a widespread form of taxation, not limited to developing countries, which can be helpful whenever administering the normal tax base is too challenging.

This text examines how firms change their investment decisions in response to tax policy and concludes that firms would substantially increase their investment in plant and equipment if some of the proposals for fundamental tax reform are enacted.

The seminar on development and selected topics of the OECD Model Tax Convention, organized jointly by OECD and IFA, has become a much-appreciated regular feature of IFA Congresses. The present publication gives an account of the papers delivered and the discussions held in the context of this seminar at IFA's Congress in Geneva in September 1996. The first and foremost part of the seminar was constituted as usual by reports delivered by Mr Owens and Mr Luthi on current and upcoming work of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs and in particular, its Working Party No. 1, which is in charge of the Model Convention. For the subsequent panel two subjects regarding interpretation of that Convention were selected, one under its article 14, the other under its article 7.

With the globalization of the world's economies, the elimination of barriers to mobility within trade blocks, and the growth of consolidated multinational businesses, the movement of employees and independent contractors is an obvious feature of modern commercial life. While labour mobility may not yet be as free as capital mobility, the ground is closing. A logical response to the increased mobility of labour would be a gradual convergence of different countries' tax rules applying to expatriates, as nations seek to grapple with the same problem, and a growing harmonization of rules to prevent overlaps and double taxation while closing the lacunae which allow taxpayers to escape taxation completely. As the papers in this volume show, however, the legislatures responsible for drafting tax laws and the tax authorities responsible for administering them are many steps behind commercial developments. Indeed, if anything, the gap is widening. As the papers in this volume examine every aspect of the topic, different, sometimes dramatically different, approaches between jurisdictions are revealed. It is, therefore, to be hoped that governments turn their attention to the problems raised in this volume and explore appropriate paths for unilateral or multilateral resolution of these issues.

This work examines the efficiency, fairness, and administrative consequences of leading proposals for income tax reforms in the USA.

One of the developments of the second half of the 20th century has been the formation of economic groupings to foster free trade among sovereign member states. These groupings fall short of being a political union as is the case with a federal state. However, in the area of taxation, there are issues that are common to both economic groupings and federal state with concurrent taxing authorities. The papers in this book were prepared for a panel discussing the subject at the 50th Congress of the International Fiscal Association held in Geneva in September 1996. The panel brought together participants from various parts of the globe. The federal states examined were the United States of America, Australia and Brazil. The European Union was the example of an economic grouping that was not a federal state. The discussions centred on four principles. The first was non-discrimination and the requirement that free trade could only be achieved if the individual member states were prohibited from using local tax measures to inhibit the free flow of goods and services within the zone. The second principle discussed is sometimes referred to as "locational neutrality", which would limit the ability of local taxing authorities to enact taxing measures which, for example, give tax incentives to enterprises of another member state and which result in distortions in the economy. The solution that is often advocated to avoid this result is harmonization of "national coherence". The third principle discussed was the enforcement and collection of taxes. The last principle discussed was the desirability of having the member states of the federal states or economic grouping uniformly bound by international commitments made by the central authority of the federal state or grouping.

This text look at the interaction between accounting, company law and taxation as one of the key issues in corporate regulation. In most legal systems there seem to be, from a more theoretical perspective, rather undeveloped "principles" in this area. This is the case both for statutory provisions and case law. Though the questions are of fundamental importance for the different regulations involved, and are highly complicated, the legal reasoning and debate are very much focused on whether a system is of one kind or another. Either the system has a strong link between accounting and taxation/company law (conformity principle) or it has not.

The US Treasury Department's draft Model Income Tax Convention, published in 1981 (the 1981 Model), was withdrawn as the official US Model in 1992. This monograph contains an article-by-article, paragraph-by-paragraph analysis of the new 1996 US Model Tax Convention. Each paragraph is compared with any corresponding provisions in the 1981 US Tax convention and the 1995 OECD Model Convention. In addition, the technical explanation accompanying the new 1996 US Model is discussed and analyzed. The 1996 US Model not only offers insight into the Treasury's negotiating position with respect to future tax treaties, but also provides insight into Treasury's interpretation of existing treaties that employ language similar to that in the new US Model.

What are the requirements of the new intermediate sanctions law?

What is the definition of an excess benefit transaction?

How will financial penalties be determined?

How will sanctions be applied?

What are the law's expanded reporting and disclosure requirements?

What can nonprofits do to plan for compliance?

These are just some of the questions you may be asking about intermediate sanctions, the most important legislation to impact the nonprofit sector in a generation. This unique guide tackles these crucial issues and more, equipping you with the vital information you need to understand the new rules and work with them effectively.

Written by two of the country's leading authorities on tax-exempt organizations, Intermediate Sanctions reviews the history and background of the act, and systematically examines how this body of law promises to affect the operations of public charities and other tax-exempt organizations. Clear and direct in approach, the book features down-to-earth examples throughout, making it an essential practical resource for lawyers, accountants, managers, and others working in the nonprofit arena.

This seminar focused not only on the technical consideration of secondary aspects but also on the underlying philosophical question: namely, should secondary adjustments be employed at all and, if so, what are the appropriate limitations on their use? While a "corresponding adjustment" may be appropriate in order to avoid double taxation, other secondary adjustments, such as "conforming adjustments" and "reclassification of income" are more problematic. The panellists and audience were asked to consider the implications of secondary adjustments in the context of tax compliance, tax administration, and private contracts. Is it appropriate for the tax administrator to intervene in private transactions to the extent of "deeming" a capital contribution or "deeming" a dividend? Set-offs and corresponding adjustments, as well as about secondary adjustments, such as reclassification of income, are included here. Following the outline are examples and diagrams that explicate the principles explained in the outline, as well as papers prepared by individual panellists.

The question of whether there are internationally recognized anti-avoidance rules that are applied to tax treaties involves two subsidiary questions: whether international law recognizes the concept of abuse of rights, and whether this concept of abuse of rights can be applied to tax treaties. The book then turns to the question of whether provisions included in the tax code that are expressly designed to re-characterize or deal with transactions that are considered to result in unacceptable avoidance of tax under the code can be extended and applied where there is an unacceptable avoidance of tax by virtue of the application of a tax treaty provision.