This paper addresses a key but neglected task in the theory of international taxation, lent increased urgency by growing awareness of the potential gains from tax coordination: the characterization of Pareto-efficient international tax regimes. It shows that the Diamond-Mirrlees theorem on the...

This paper analyses the characteristics of transfer pricing systems across countries, in order to identify the grouping structures intrinsically related with rules' similarities, and to explore the key characteristics revealed by each group. Applying hierarchical agglomerative technique for...

If interpreted in a strict legal sense, beneficial ownership rules in tax treaties would have no effect on conduit companies because companies at law own their property and income beneficially. Conversely, a company can never own anything in a substantive sense because economically a company is...

To what degree developing countries gain from signing double tax treaties is being hotly debated. In this paper, we analyze the Austrian tax treaty policy. Combining legal and economic perspectives, we find that developing countries are likely to expect both positive and negative impacts from...

This position paper of the IBFD Academic Task Force (hereinafter IBFD Task Force) relates to the OECD's work on BEPS Action 1 and is devoted to withholding tax aspects. This position paper provides possible solutions to the challenges presented to the international tax regime by the digital...

This paper outlines the core issues of the introduction of a new PE nexus based on digital presence. It puts forward its essential features and rethinks the foundations of the concept of sourcing for income tax purposes in the global economy. Our proposal of a new PE nexus based on digital...

Out of all double tax treaties (DTTs) in force in 2012, around 41% are symmetric and 59% are asymmetric, i.e., they prescribe different dividend withholding tax rates (WTRs) depending on the foreign investor's ownership fraction. The paper investigates the reasons for this phenomenon, namely why...

The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) under Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action 2 indicated that tax arbitrage via hybrid mismatch arrangements “result in a substantial erosion of the taxable bases of the countries concerned” and “have an overall...

This paper investigates the effects of double tax treaties (DTTs) on foreign direct investment (FDI) after controlling for their relevance in the presence of treaty shopping. DTTs cannot be considered a bilateral issue, but must be viewed as a network, since FDI can flow from home to host...