Foreign tax systems
Anti-avoidance measures Tax law of the EU Tax treaty law International tax planning International tax policy Supplementary courses Master's thesis 
 
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Anti-avoidance measures (6) |
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Comparative Aspects of CFC Rules (2) Using the United States as a model, several countries have adopted special laws to prevent the diversion of taxable income to entities in low tax countries and tax havens. The controlled foreign corporation (CFC) legislation follows a uniform pattern in all countries. This course examines the underlying reasons for CFC rules, and their design and structure. A comparative analysis of the CFC rules of various countries will be a central focus of the course. The course will also consider the relationship between CFC rules and other anti-tax haven measure
F 09/10: October 15-16, 2009
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The United States taxes its residents on a worldwide basis. At the same time, it grants outbound investors two forms of tax benefits: deferral of taxation of income earned by foreign corporations owned by United States residents, and a unilateral (direct and indirect) credit for foreign taxes paid. The rhetoric behind these benefits is that they help the competitiveness of United States corporations and maintain the preferable policy of capital export neutrality. These benefits, however, are considered extraordinary, and as such, the United States employs a large variety of specific anti-abuse or anti-avoidance mechanisms (note that the US, as a matter of principle, has no general anti-avoidance standard). The benefit of deferral, for instance, is paired with certain anti-deferral mechanisms; the most important of them is subpart F, which deals with Controlled Foreign Corporations ("CFC"). The United States treaty policy takes a similar stance regarding the concessions made in double tax conventions, attempting to guarantee the integrity of its treaties as bilateral agreements that represent specific compromises between the treaty partners, and only between them. The long-standing insistence of the United States on including specific limitation of benefits ("LOB") clauses in its treaties is the most notable example of this policy. The lecture will discuss the general United States anti-avoidance policy and the various particular mechanisms to allow better understanding of both the opportunities and risks involved in United States outbound investment.
F 09/10: December 4-5, 2009
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In the European Union tTax law contains many anti-abuse provisions. In the European Union these provisions must be in accordance with Community law. Accordingly, further study of abuse concepts in European tax law is useful and desirable. This lecture will deal with the creation of and the content of the abuse concepts. The starting point of the discussion will be the ECJ's case law on abuse of Community law in non-tax matters. Thereafter the focus will be on abuse in direct and indirect taxation in the EU. We shall discuss how the European Court of Justice treats abuse, the differences and similarities between the various abuse concepts and if, and if so to what extent, tax jurisdiction shopping is allowed.
F 09/10: February 11-12, 2010
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Double taxation conventions are an essential element in facilitating economic relations between states and encourage flows of capital and labour. In order to achieve this goal, the Contracting States agree in these conventions on tax exemptions and on tax reductions. However, tax treaties are in these times exploited at an increasing pace for other purposes without any sound business reason but with the sole aim of saving taxes. In this context "aggressive tax planning" has become a major concern for tax authorities around the world. This is the core topic of this course, which focuses on options for tax administrations to counteract such abusive practices and to protect their tax base against improper use of tax treaties. In-depth studies will be devoted to the relevance of specific or general anti-avoidance rules in treaties as well as to the importance of the "beneficial ownership" concept inherent in treaty provisions. In this framework the use of base companies and conduit companies and of various other tax planning vehicles will be thoroughly analyzed. Also, the technique of combating abusive transactions through the transfer pricing mechanism as well as the reliance on domestic anti-abuse legislation will be considered. Another major topic of the course will be the importance of the cooperation between tax administrations under the exchange of information provisions of treaties. Students will get a feeling of where the borderline has to be drawn between legal and illegal international tax planning.
F 10/11: December 17-18, 2010
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c/o Academy of Public Accountants,
A 1121 Vienna, Schönbrunner Strasse 222-228/1/6/3