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Articles 1 - 30 of 37
Full-Text Articles in Law
The Historical Origins And Current Prospects Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
The Historical Origins And Current Prospects Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
Articles
This article has three aims. First, it surveys the pre-BEPS efforts to create a multilateral tax convention (MTC) from the 19th century onward, and explains why these efforts have failed, leading to an international tax regime dominated by unilateralism and bilateralism. Second, it contrasts the success of multilateralism in investment and trade law. Third, it examines the BEPS era efforts to create an MTC and suggests that, while there has been more convergence of the tax laws of countries, a fundamental divergence of interests persists that will likely doom any such efforts to failure. The article concludes that, at this …
The Historical Origins Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
The Historical Origins Of The Multilateral Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Eran Lempert
Law & Economics Working Papers
This paper will survey the efforts to create a multilateral tax convention (MTC) from the beginnings of the international tax regime to the present day. The paper’s main contribution is to provide a historical analysis of the (failed) efforts to create a MTC from the beginnings of the ITR until the League of Nations (as contained in Part 1 to this paper). Part 2 of the paper serves to provide a brief modern context to the historical analysis from Part 1, covering why the multilateral instrument (MLI) that was included in BEPS 1.0 is not a true MTC, and secondly …
After Pillar One, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
After Pillar One, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
Pillar One is unlikely to succeed for three reasons. First, it requires an MTC to be implemented because Amount A requires overriding Articles 5 (Permanent Establishment, PE), 7 (Business Profits) and 9 (Associated Enterprises) of every tax treaty to abolish the PE and Arm’s Length Principle (ALP) limits enshrined therein. But negotiating an MTC is hard, especially when over 100 countries are involved and there are fundamental disagreements among them.
Second, because Pillar One (despite its October 2021 expansion) is still aimed primarily at taxing the US digital giants (Big Tech), it is hard to envisage it being implemented without …
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
Law & Economics Working Papers
This essay examines the extent of Surrey’s influence on developments in tax law after his death. It argues that his ideas clearly impacted the tax reform of 1986, but can even be seen in later enactments like the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and contemporary developments in international taxation. This in turn enables us to get a clearer perspective on what Surrey aimed to achieve and what the goals of these later developments are.
Canadian Qdmtt Challenges, Jinyan Li, Angelo Nikolakakis, Jean-Pierre Vidal
Canadian Qdmtt Challenges, Jinyan Li, Angelo Nikolakakis, Jean-Pierre Vidal
Articles & Book Chapters
Nobody believes that Canada is a tax haven. The fact remains that the effective tax rate of certain entities could be less than 15%. If nothing is done, Pillar Two could therefore apply and taxes that naturally accrue to Canada could end up in foreign hands. We must therefore find a solution and the most obvious is that of adopting a qualified domestic minimum top up tax. Other solutions are possible, but they seem less attractive. A QDMTT still presents some challenges. These challenges include sharing with the provinces, determining the priority to be given to certain foreign taxes relating …
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
What Would Surrey Say? The Long Reach Of Stanley S. Surrey, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Nir Fishbien
Articles
Stanley S. Surrey died in 1984, two years before the enactment of the Tax Reform Act of 1986, which gave us the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 as amended. Historians have recently discovered Surrey’s work through his memoirs, published in 2022, and several articles based on the memoir and on the unpublished Surrey papers at Harvard Law School. There is no doubt that Surrey was a towering historical figure during his “Half-Century with the Internal Revenue Code.” As his protégé Donald Lubick, who served as Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy in both the Carter and the Clinton Administrations, stated, Surrey …
International Tax Reform: Who Gets A Seat At The Table?, Assaf Harpaz
International Tax Reform: Who Gets A Seat At The Table?, Assaf Harpaz
Scholarly Works
The international tax framework relies on early-twentieth-century principles and favors the interests of the Global North, which created it. It bases taxing rights on a corporation’s physical presence and mostly allocates profits to the country of residence. Moreover, it has been slow to adapt to modern business practices. In the digital economy, companies shift profits with relative ease and often do not require a physical presence in the location of their consumers. International taxation needs reform, but leading proposals do not reflect meaningful input from the Global South and are unlikely to serve the needs of developing countries.
In 2021, …
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Law & Economics Working Papers
The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.
In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
Law & Economics Working Papers
The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.
Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran Kim, Karen Sam
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran Kim, Karen Sam
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.
Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran Kim
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran Kim
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.
In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim
Articles
The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.
In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam
Articles
The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.
Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …
The New International Tax Regime, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The New International Tax Regime, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
On October 8, 2021, over 130 countries committed themselves to the most far-reaching changes in the international tax regime since its inception in 1923. Slated to begin on the anniversary year of 2023, this new regime (ITR 2.0) adopts significant changes from the old one (ITR 1.0). Specifically, ITR 2.0 eliminates the physical presence requirement and the arm’s length standard for a significant portion of the profits of large multinationals that have been essential elements of ITR 1.0 since the 1930s, in a way that is more consistent with ITR 1.0’s Benefits Principle (BP). ITR 2.0 also explicitly implements the …
International Tax Law- Status Quo, Trends And Perspectives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
International Tax Law- Status Quo, Trends And Perspectives, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
This chapter will argue that developments in the past decade have significantly bolstered the International Tax Regime, so that it does a much better job in protecting PIT and CIT from erosion due to cross-border tax evasion and avoidance than it did before 2010. Specifically, the adoption of FATCA and the consequent development of Automatic Exchange of Information (AEI) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) have significantly protected PIT, while the OECD BEPS project has significantly improved CIT, especially if the current BEPS 2.0 effort is successfully concluded.
A Different Unified Approach To Global Tax Policy: Addressing The Challenges Of Underdevelopment, Tarcisio Magalhaes, Ivan Ozai
A Different Unified Approach To Global Tax Policy: Addressing The Challenges Of Underdevelopment, Tarcisio Magalhaes, Ivan Ozai
Articles & Book Chapters
Experts from the North have long tried to teach countries in the South how to tax. For decades, they assumed the main challenges were domestic and there was a right answer to be found somewhere in the developed world that could be replicated everywhere else. Only more recently have they dedicated more attention to the international realm, yet their solutions remain tied to technical rules designed by a few specialists, as exemplified by the OECD Secretariat’s “Unified Approach” for the taxation of the digital economy. From a critical and historical socio-legal perspective, this Article argues that such technocratic approaches are …
Taxing Capital In The Age Of Intangibles, Eurallyah Akinyi, Dan Ciuriak
Taxing Capital In The Age Of Intangibles, Eurallyah Akinyi, Dan Ciuriak
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
The rise of the intangibles economy has led to a significant erosion of corporate tax revenue in the innovation-intensive advanced economies, even as the share of national income flowing to capital rose. For developing countries, the erosion is worse and comes on top of substantial erosion of corporate tax revenues from the tangibles economy due to weak tax administration and corruption. In this paper, we take up the questions of how big is the taxing problem that the intangibles economy has raised, and whose problem is it. Further, we consider how well the proposed OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework measures up in …
Taxation Of The Digital Economy: Adapting A Twentieth-Century Tax System To A Twenty-First-Century Economy, Assaf Harpaz
Taxation Of The Digital Economy: Adapting A Twentieth-Century Tax System To A Twenty-First-Century Economy, Assaf Harpaz
Scholarly Works
This Article analyzes the tax challenges of digitalization and the potential solutions to address them. This Article argues in favor of a multilateral approach and proposes applying a new tax nexus based on market thresholds subject to a global de minimis amount. As more companies conduct business online, current international tax law and its principles have failed to adapt to global commercial practices. Digital-tech giants such as Facebook, Google and Amazon have been able to exploit the international tax framework by avoiding a physical presence in the jurisdiction of their consumers. As a result, profits of highly digitalized enterprises can …
Constructive Dialogue: Beps And The Tcja, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Constructive Dialogue: Beps And The Tcja, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
US international tax law is commonly conceived as developed in the US and influencing the development of other countries' international tax law. This paper will argue that in the case of the TCJA, the US legislation was heavily influenced by the OECD BEPS project, and that the continuing OECD work in Pillars I and II is likely to have a similar influence on the future development of US international tax law.
Uniform International Tax Collection And Distribution For Global Development, A Utopian Beps Alternative, Henry Ordower
Uniform International Tax Collection And Distribution For Global Development, A Utopian Beps Alternative, Henry Ordower
All Faculty Scholarship
Under the guise of compelling multinational enterprises (MNEs) to pay their fair share of income taxes, the OECD and other multinational agencies have introduced proposals to prevent MNEs from eroding the income tax base of developed economies by continuing to shift income artificially to low or zero tax jurisdictions. Some of the proposals have garnered substantial multinational support, including recent support from the new U.S. presidential administration for a global minimum tax. This Article reviews many of those international proposals. The proposals tend to concentrate the incremental tax revenue from the prevention of base erosion into the treasuries of the …
What Is Unilateralism In International Taxation?, Wei Cui
What Is Unilateralism In International Taxation?, Wei Cui
All Faculty Publications
The OECD recently emerged as the site of unprecedented, multilateral, and seemingly high-stakes negotiations about the future of international business income taxation. Judging by the political resources deployed in these negotiations, international tax has entered unchartered territory. Professor Ruth Mason offers a timely and balanced portrayal of the OECD process so far. But explanations of this process remain highly contestable. On the one hand, international institutions that address externalities from uncoordinated actions and produce mutual benefits for participating nations can be highly stable. On the other hand, the OECD has struggled, whether in its BEPS (Base Erosion and Profit Shifting) …
Value Creation: A Constant Principle In A Changing World Of International Taxation, Jinyan Li, Nathan Jin Bao, Huaning Li
Value Creation: A Constant Principle In A Changing World Of International Taxation, Jinyan Li, Nathan Jin Bao, Huaning Li
Articles & Book Chapters
The authors consider the new nomenclature of value creation in terms of its meaning, theoretical basis, and importance in the context of the international taxation of business profits. The authors’ central claim is that the principle of value creation is a profound elaboration of the doctrine of economic allegiance, which is the theoretical basis for the current international tax system; and that international tax norms, such as the arm’s-length principle, are meant to give effect to the doctrine of economic allegiance (and now to the principle of value creation). As demonstrated by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/Group of …
Taxing The Digital Economy Post-Beps…Seriously, Andres Báez Moreno, Yariv Brauner
Taxing The Digital Economy Post-Beps…Seriously, Andres Báez Moreno, Yariv Brauner
UF Law Faculty Publications
For years the advent of the digital economy has left countries stumped in their attempt to tax income earned by foreign firms without physical presence within their jurisdiction. International organizations and their member countries have failed in their attempts to tweak the rules of the international tax regime and address these challenges presented by the digital economy. This article argues that such conservative approach could not work, and fundamental reform is inevitable. The article proposes a withholding tax solution, explaining its merits and demonstrating its superiority over alternative reforms proposed to date.
China And Beps, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Haiyan Xu
China And Beps, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Haiyan Xu
Articles
This article provides an overview of China’s reaction to the G20/OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. From 2013 to 2015, the OECD developed a series of actions designed to address BEPS activities by multinational enterprises, culminating in a final report of 15 action steps. The article reviews and explains China’s reaction to the BEPS project and its actions in detail, with a particular focus on transfer pricing issues. It shows that China has actively participated in both developing and implementing the BEPS project. The article further suggests that in the post-BEPS era, China is expected to implement the …
The Triumph Of Beps: Us Tax Reform And The Single Tax Principle, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
The Triumph Of Beps: Us Tax Reform And The Single Tax Principle, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Law & Economics Working Papers
The Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TRA17) as passed by the House on November 16 and by the Senate on December 2, 2017, contains multiple provisions that incorporate the principles of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) into domestic US tax law. Together with the changes in the 2016 model US tax treaty, these provisions mean that the US is following the EU and China in implementing BEPS and in particular its underlying principle, the single tax principle (i.e., all income should be subject to tax once: passive income at the residence state rate and active income at …
International Tax Avoidance -- Introduction, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
International Tax Avoidance -- Introduction, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
Tax avoidance and evasion is a hot topic. On the evasion (illegal activity by individuals) front, the various leaks culminating in the Panama Papers have once again revealed the scope of evasion by the global elite. Gabriel Zucman conservatively estimated the annual revenue loss at $200 billion. On the tax avoidance (legal activity by corporations) front, the OECD BEPS project has estimated the scope of avoidance by multinationals at between $100 and $240 billion per year. By comparison, total US corporate tax revenues are about $400 billion per year. The articles in this volume reflect various aspects of these troubling …
Chapter Viii: Protecting The Tax Base In The Digital Economy, Jinyan Li
Chapter Viii: Protecting The Tax Base In The Digital Economy, Jinyan Li
Articles & Book Chapters
Protecting the tax base in the digital economy is Action 1 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) project on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). The reason is simple: “International tax rules, which date back to the 1920s, have not kept pace with the changing business environment, including the growing importance of intangibles and the digital economy.” They can no longer distribute taxing rights fairly among countries and adequately define a country’s tax base.
Multinational Efforts To Limit Intellectual Property Income Shifting: The Oecd's Base Erosion And Profit Shifting (Beps) Project, Jeffrey A. Maine
Multinational Efforts To Limit Intellectual Property Income Shifting: The Oecd's Base Erosion And Profit Shifting (Beps) Project, Jeffrey A. Maine
Faculty Publications
Before 2017, there were two major international movements going on at the same time: (1) the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement; and (2) the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD’s) Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. The movements presented a unique opportunity to consider the intersection of a behemoth multinational trade agreement and ambitious multinational efforts to close international tax loopholes.
Although the TPP is essentially dead, as newly elected U.S. President Donald Trump unsigned the TPP as a matter of unilateral Executive power, the OECD’s BEPS Project is not. Indeed, many nations have been adopting BEPS Project proposals …
The Luxembourg Effect: Patent Boxes And The Limits Of International Cooperation, Lilian V. Faulhaber
The Luxembourg Effect: Patent Boxes And The Limits Of International Cooperation, Lilian V. Faulhaber
Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works
This article uses patent boxes, which reduce taxes on income from patents and other IP assets, to illustrate the fact that the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice has a longer reach than has previously been recognized. This article argues that, along with having effects within the European Union, the ECJ’s decisions can also have effects on countries outside of the EU. In the direct tax context, the ECJ’s jurisprudence has hampered the ability of both EU and non-EU countries to police international tax avoidance.
In 2015, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) proposed restrictions on patent …
Beps - A Primer On Where It Came From And Where It’S Going, Jeffrey M. Kadet
Beps - A Primer On Where It Came From And Where It’S Going, Jeffrey M. Kadet
Articles
Governments throughout the world have been losing many billions of dollars of tax revenues from “legal” tax avoidance conducted by many multinational groups (MNEs) through aggressive structuring of operations and transactions that often lack economic reality so as to earn profits that are subjected to zero or low-taxation. The success of this “legal” tax avoidance motivated the G-20 and the OECD to initiate the two-year Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project, which took place from 2013 to 2015.
This discussion of the BEPS project is intended to give the reader an understanding of the project’s origin, its objectives, and …