The general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) in section 245 of the Income Tax Act is about drawing a line between legitimate tax minimization and abusive tax avoidance. However, the GAAR does not provide guidelines for determining whether a particular transaction is legitimate or abusive. In this...

This article asks whether tax planning advice can ever be effectively regulated by the IRS. The article first explores whether tax advice differs in kind from other forms of legal advice. Secondly, it looks at the clear regulatory distinction between the treatment of return preparation advice...

The cash economy and associated tax evasion is an on-going issue for most tax administrators. Tax evasion reduces national tax revenue, shifts the tax burden on to other taxpayers such as salary/wage earners and undermines confidence in the tax system affecting voluntary compliance as well as...

This paper examines the role played by shams in tax avoidance in New Zealand and its relationship with the general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) encapsulated in statutory provisions. It shows that as long as the orthodox conception of the sham is employed, there is no need for such a mechanism to...

Tax avoidance by major multinational enterprises (MNEs) has been extremely topical after the great financial crisis of 2008. As a result, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2013 commenced a project known as the “base erosion and profit shifting” (BEPS)...