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Full-Text Articles in Law
Beps, Atap, And The New Tax Dialogue: "A Transatlantic Competition?", Reuven Avi-Yonah, Gianluca Mazzoni
Beps, Atap, And The New Tax Dialogue: "A Transatlantic Competition?", Reuven Avi-Yonah, Gianluca Mazzoni
Articles
Since its launch in 2013, the US actively participated in all aspects of the BEPS project. However, until recently, the general view was that following the conclusion of the BEPS negotiations and the change of Administration the US is stepping back from the BEPS process. While the EU was charging ahead with implementing BEPS through the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD), the US stated that it was already in compliance with all BEPS minimum standards and therefore other than Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) it had no further BEPS obligations. The US decided not to sign the Multilateral Instrument (MLI) to implement BEPS …
Who Invented The Single Tax Principle?: An Essay On The History Of Us Treaty Policy, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Who Invented The Single Tax Principle?: An Essay On The History Of Us Treaty Policy, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
In 1997, I wrote an article on the international tax challenges posed by the then-nascent electronic commerce, in which I suggested that the international tax regime is based on two principles: the benefits principle and the single tax principle. The benefits principle states that active (business) income should be taxed primarily by the country of source, and passive (investment) income should be taxed primarily by the country of residence. This is the famous compromise reached by the four economists at the foundation of the regime in 1923 and is not particularly controversial. It is embodied in every one of the …
Back From The Dead: Reviving Transfer Pricing Enforcement, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Back From The Dead: Reviving Transfer Pricing Enforcement, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
The OECD has recently come to recognize that the transfer pricing system does not work as intended. In its report on base erosion and profit shifting 2013 WTD 140-17: Other Administrative Documents, the OECD recognizes that BEPS results in revenue losses that affect all states, especially poorer ones; that systematic tax avoidance by the richest and most powerful companies in the world undermines the general legitimacy of taxation; that it gives MNEs significant competitive advantages over purely domestic firms, resulting in inefficient allocations of investment and major distortions to economic activity; and that it skews the decisions of the MNEs …
Xilinx Revisited, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Xilinx Revisited, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
On March 22 the Ninth Circuit released its new opinion in Xilinx v. Commissioner, Doc 2010-6163, 2010 WTD 55-42. 1 As has been expected since the panel withdrew its original opinion, it reversed itself and in a 2-1 opinion held for the taxpayer. The opinion makes it pretty clear why the reversal occurred. It was the result of concentrated pressure by the international tax community and the fact that the government was unwilling to defend the theory on which the panel originally decided the case: that the arm’s-length standard of the section 482 regulations does not apply to cost sharing. …
Xilinx And The Arm's-Length Standard, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Xilinx And The Arm's-Length Standard, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
On May 7 the Ninth Circuit decided Xilinx v. Commissioner. By a 2-1 majority, the panel reversed the Tax Court and held that costs of employee stock options must be included in the pool of costs subject to a tax-sharing agreement. The Xilinx decision is important for three reasons. First, cost sharing is probably the key element in current transfer pricing law because it is the principal way in which profits from intangibles get shifted from the United States to low-tax jurisdictions. Moreover, informed observers agree that the allocation of income from intangibles is the most important problem in transfer …
The New United States Model Income Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Martin B. Tittle
The New United States Model Income Tax Convention, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Martin B. Tittle
Articles
On 15 November 2006, the United States Treasury released its long-awaited new Model Income Tax Convention (“New Model”), which replaced the 1996 US Model (“Old Model”). This article reviews some of the major differences between the New and Old Models, as well as some of the major differences between the New Model and the current (2005) OECD Model Tax Convention. The article also discusses some new trends in US treaty policy which are not reflected in the New Model. The article concludes by evaluating the New Model in light of the emerging trend to use tax treaties not just to …
Risk, Rents, And Regressivity: Why The United States Needs Both An Income Tax And A Vat, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Risk, Rents, And Regressivity: Why The United States Needs Both An Income Tax And A Vat, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah
Articles
In this article, Prof. Avi-Yonah argues that the legal academic debate about fundamental tax reform from 1974 onward has been skewed by the assumption that a consumption tax must replace the income tax. He addresses three of the major issue in recent writings on the income/consumption tax debate, and shows how none of the arguments in favor of the consumption tax are conclusive. Avi-Yonah also addresses the various consumption tax proposals that have been made and shows that they are all deficient in comparison with a VAT, as well as failing to achieve the goals of an income tax. Finally, …