France’s draft Finance Bill for 2025 - balancing fiscal justice and economic growth
As France faces significant economic challenges characterised by mounting public debt and a record-high deficit, the draft Finance Bill for 2025 is currently being discussed before the French Parliament. The Bill seeks to reduce the public deficit from seven per cent to five per cent of gross domestic product through a €19bn revenue increase, introducing new taxes targeted at high-income individuals and large corporations. The legislative process is complicated by a hung parliament and social crises. Despite the government’s efforts to address all the issues at stake, ongoing political instability raises questions about the efficacy and stability of France’s economic policies.
Released on Nov 25, 2024
New tax developments in Turkey 2024
Various changes were made to the Turkish tax system via Act No 7524, which was published in the Official Gazette on 2 August 2024. This article describes some of the important changes resulting from the Act.
Released on Nov 22, 2024
The incentive regime for large investments in Argentina - an overview
This article provides an overview of the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (RIGI) established by Law 27742 in Argentina, which offers a comprehensive framework of tax, customs and foreign exchange incentives aimed at promoting significant investments in key business sectors. This article explores the main features, eligibility requirements and benefits of the RIGI, highlighting its potential to attract substantial foreign and domestic investments in Argentina.
Released on Nov 21, 2024
Value-added tax on digital services in Peru
Legislative Decree No 1623, enacted on 4 August 2024, has introduced significant changes to Peru’s framework on value-added tax, extending its application to digital services and intangible goods acquired by Peruvian consumers from foreign providers. This reform addresses the expanding digital economy, imposing new tax obligations on non-resident providers and payment intermediaries, particularly financial institutions.
Released on Nov 18, 2024
Draft Italian Budget 2025 broadens the scope of the Italian digital service tax
Italy’s digital services tax could undergo its most significant transformation since its introduction in 2020. Initially conceived as a tax targeted at large multinational technology companies, the 2025 Draft Italian Budget drastically broadens the tax's scope, extending its application to resident and non-resident digital enterprises irrespective of their revenue.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
Practical guide on the preferential tax regimes available for individuals moving their tax residency to Greece
Since the end of 2019, Greece has been on list of countries that have enacted favourable tax regimes, designed to attract individuals to move their tax residence to the country. These regimes are the non-dom tax regime, the foreign pensioner’s tax regime and the employee and self-employed regime, known as 5A, 5B and 5C regimes, respectively, as per the corresponding articles in the Income Tax Code, which introduced them. This article provides an overview of the most important features of each of these tax regimes, considering the most recent amendments and administrative interpretations since their enactment.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
The Australian Tax Office’s unique approach to profit attribution and the implications for permanent establishments in Australia
In the view of the authors, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) persists in adopting a method for attributing profits to permanent establishments (PEs) that is misaligned with international standards. This divergence may result in foreign taxpayers encountering a tax burden in Australia that is considerably more substantial than they might have anticipated. In this article, we examine the ATO’s methodology and explain why it can often culminate in an unusually high tax imposition on PEs within Australia.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
Chile VAT: new regulations for business to consumer sales transactions on digital marketplaces
As a measure to tackle the informal economy and tax evasion and to promote fair trade, Law No 21,713 on Compliance with Tax Obligations, enacted on 25 October 2024, incorporates relevant changes on the tax treatment applicable to the international business to consumer digital trade of goods. As a result, the responsibility for value-added tax collection on imports of low-value goods is shifted from customs authorities to the digital intermediation platforms facilitating such transactions. The specifics of these new regulations are set out in this article.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
Beacons of light in the gloomy withholding tax situation in Poland
This article discusses the current situation in regard to withholding tax in Poland and recent precedent-setting judgments by the administrative courts regarding the exemption of Luxembourg reserved alternative investment funds from withholding tax in Poland.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
The draft Finance Bill 2025: France adapts its merger tax regime to recent EU-driven corporate law reforms
The draft Finance Bill for 2025 was released on 11 October 2024 and is due to be examined by Members of the French Parliament from 21 October 2024. The merger tax regime for corporate restructurings is to be adapted (Article 17 of the draft Finance Bill) following the Ordinance 2023-393 of 24 May 2023 and Decree No 2023-430 of 2 June 2023, which transposed EU Directive 2019/2121 and reformed the legal regime in regard to company law. This article examines these developments.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
Brazil’s path to decarbonisation: tax incentives and policies on hydrogen and biofuels
Brazil is taking significant steps towards becoming a leading country in projects related to the energy transition. The second half of 2024 saw the enactment of important laws on hydrogen and biofuels/green fuels, which delivers a clear message: Brazil is committed to playing a key role in the energy transition.
Released on Nov 13, 2024
Privilege, penalties and good faith across jurisdictions
The focus of this conference panel discussion was privilege, penalties and good faith across jurisdictions. The panel discussed a hypothetical tax enforcement lifecycle, client–attorney privilege protection, the interaction between civil and criminal law proceedings, as well as document retention rules.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Transfer pricing in a post-Pillar Two world
The panel discussed the role of transfer pricing (TP) in the post-Pillar Two tax world, focusing in particular on the potential impact of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Pillar Two rules on TP (section 1); recent developments at European Union level involving the proposed EU Directive on Transfer Pricing (commonly known as the ‘TP Directive’), recent intellectual property fact patterns (section 3) and the current trends in intercompany financing (section 4).
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Multijurisdictional audits: mutual agreement procedure and advance pricing agreement issues
This conference panel explored multijurisdictional trends, including the frequency of multijurisdictional audits, the use of a mutual agreement procedure, advance pricing agreement trends, the use of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s International Compliance Assurance Programme and developments related to information sharing.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Plenary session: government update
This government update explored the implementation of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Two-Pillar Solution through several lenses, ranging from work currently being conducted by the OECD and the European Commission, to the country-specific perspectives of Germany, Jersey, Switzerland and the United States.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Direct and indirect taxes and supply chains
This conference panel discussed the main hurdles faced by a non-EU based company importing and selling goods in the EU via a traditional buy-and-sell or a limited-risk distribution model.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Inbound investments into the United States
This conference panel discussed the complexities surrounding investment in the US through hybrid entities, providing diverse perspectives on the matter, whereby each speaker offered insights into recent developments concerning these entities in their respective jurisdictions.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
Citizens of the world: navigating the labyrinth of special tax regimes
This conference panel discussed special tax regimes in various jurisdictions. The speakers presented the latest news from their home jurisdictions and addressed the tax residency criteria, changes to the tax laws and the implications for taxpayers. They also touched on treaty issues and concluded with predictions on future trends in international tax policies.
Released on Aug 26, 2024
How do the OECD and the UN address international tax issues (past, present and future)?
The panel discussed how the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the UN address international taxation concerns, starting with a look at the approach adopted in the past up to the present day, recent developments concerning the OECD’s Global Minimum Corporate Tax Rate, followed by an analysis of the solutions provided by both the OECD and the UN to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The likelihood of cooperation between the two organisations was also discussed. The panel also presented the perspectives of India and the US on these issues.
Released on May 27, 2024
Transitioning into a ‘brave new world’ of Pillar Two
The panel discussion was focused on the critical aspects and potential impact of the OECD Pillar Two Model Rules framework on various tax and corporate structures. The first segment of the discussion was dedicated to how Pillar Two affects investment funds, certain International Financial Reporting Standards definitions and considerations, the particulars concerning joint ventures and the ramifications of Pillar Two in the context of mergers and acquisitions. The first half of the discussion highlighted the critical factors that must be taken into account for the strategic structuring of investments in accordance with Pillar Two. In the second half, attention shifted towards a comprehensive review of the recent developments in regard to US foreign tax credits, a topic of significant relevance given its potential influence on cross-border investments and the international tax landscape.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
M&A in turbulent times – how to get the deal done (2024)
This session focused on four topics in regard to mergers and acquisitions (M&A): (1) redomiciliations, (2) spin-offs and demergers, (3) selected Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Pillar Two topics focusing on contractual clauses and (4) transfer taxes. For most of the agenda items, the local special rules and practical takeaways were highlighted.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
Securitisation and derivatives markets (2024)
The panel examined the latest trends on securitisation transactions from a tax perspective in various jurisdictions. The presentation focused on new case law on securitisation funds, US rules for withholding on structured notes, the European Union’s Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes proposal, derivative taxation in the UK and, finally, beneficial ownership and the payment of dividends and interest in various European countries.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
Crypto is crazy – non-fungible tokens are crazier still
The panel examined recent developments regarding the taxation of crypto-assets in various jurisdictions. The presentation focused on what non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are, important definitions in recent OECD rules and EU regulations dealing with crypto-assets and the EU’s tax transparency rules for crypto-asset transactions, the value-added tax-treatment of transactions concerning crypto-assets and NFT platforms in the United Kingdom and, finally, the income tax treatment in the United States and Italy.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
Permanent establishment (2024)
The concept of permanent establishment (PE) is one of the key issues in international taxation, as it determines the allocation of taxing rights between source and residence countries. However, the traditional PE concept, based on physical presence and agency, is facing new challenges in the context of hybrid and distance working, the digital economy and multilateral instruments. This panel, held at the IBA congress on 15 January 2024, aimed to explore the recent developments and difficulties related to the PE concept from different perspectives and jurisdictions. The panel was chaired by Raul-Angelo Papotti, and featured five speakers from Denmark, France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
Holding companies: which jurisdiction is the best?
The panel discussed the present application and significance of holding companies, specifically special purpose vehicles (SPVs), from the viewpoints of several key jurisdictions: Spain, Germany, the United Kingdom, Dubai and Luxembourg. The primary focus of the discussion centred on evaluating the relevance and impact of holding companies within the framework of both international and European Union regulatory progression, particularly in light of the proposed Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive 3 (ATAD 3), аs well as what is the most appropriate jurisdiction to register an SPV. The conversation explored the implications of these regulatory changes for holding companies, assessing their operational viability and strategic importance in the international tax landscape.
Released on Apr 8, 2024
Current and developing issues in cross-border finance
The conference session focused on current and developing tax issues in cross-border finance, with a panel of experts from various jurisdictions discussing the latest trends and challenges in this area. The conference aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of the tax implications of different types of financing transactions, such as securitisation, fund financing, hybrid instruments, and interest deduction limitations. The panel session also addressed the impact of anti-hybrid and mandatory disclosure rules on capital markets, as well as the concept of beneficial ownership and conduit financing.
Released on Apr 7, 2024
The importance of being resident: is it possible to simplify the notion of tax residence of individuals?
Attempts by Italian tax lawmakers to simplify the notion of tax residence have come up against complications related to the mobility of individuals and the possibility of having professional and personal ties to several countries.
Released on Feb 26, 2024
French Administrative Supreme Court decision on tax regime for BSPCEs and implications for employees and directors of French startups
In early February, the French Administrative Supreme Court issued a favourable ruling regarding the tax regime for BSPCEs (bons de souscription de parts de créateur d'entreprise), a particular type of stock option. This article describes the case leading to this ruling and the implications.
Released on Feb 21, 2024
Brazil’s constitutional taxation overhaul: a comprehensive analysis
After nearly three decades, Brazil’s Congress has approved the Brazilian tax reform on value added tax. This aspect of tax law has been discussed since almost the enactment of the Federal Constitution itself in 1988, and there have been several failed attempts to simplify the current tax system. This article aims to analyse the main aspects of the Brazilian tax reform, which was enacted in December 2023.
Released on Feb 21, 2024
Interpretation of EU tax directives and the impact on the national laws of EU Member States
The interpretation and impact of EU tax directives on Member State national laws is a fairly new element in the discussions with national tax authorities in the EU, for example, discussions concerning the granting of an exemption that is based on an EU tax directive. In order to interpret the national laws that transpose EU tax directives, one needs to look beyond the national laws themselves. It is necessary to analyse the meaning of the EU tax directive in question. It is important to ascertain what exactly is the obligation on Member States and what is the meaning of certain terms in the EU tax directive that has been transposed into national law? These types of questions relate to the interpretation of EU tax directives and are increasingly relevant for all EU Member States. Moreover, the specific EU tax directive and the context in which it was developed has an impact on the interpretation of the national laws of a particular Member State. These aspects are discussed in this article.
Released on Feb 20, 2024