The benefits of a tax treaty are generally granted to persons who are residents of one of the Contracting States. The determination of such tax residence status is, however, not always an easy task and is particularly problematic in relation to entities whose tax characterisation differs from...

This article discusses the current state of tax treaty interpretation in New Zealand with particular reference to a recent decision which has attracted attention both here in New Zealand and overseas. The case concerned whether a New Zealand resident was entitled to a tax sparing credit under...

Hybrid entities give rise to international tax problems, and it must be acknowledged, opportunities. Why is this so? This is because, at the heart of the phenomenon, different countries tax systems treat hybrid entities in fundamentally different ways allocating income to different parties. The...

The trust is the most useful device that New Zealand offers to non-residents in the field of international tax planning. So long as settlors, beneficiaries, and income are all foreign the trust is unlikely to attract New Zealand tax. The residence of the trustee has no effect on the tax benefits...

“Ectopia” is a label given here to a feature of tax law that distinguishes it from most other forms of law. Income tax law is dislocated from the facts to which it relates. This dislocation leaves a gap, or “ectopia” between tax laws and the economic facts of the transactions or...

Does Australia’s international claim to tax trust-level capital gains apply the jurisdictional rules of trust taxation based on source, or those of capital gains taxation based on ‘taxable Australian property’, or a hybrid of the two? The article sets out to answer the question by...

The relationship between domestic anti-abuse rules and double taxation treaties is a complex and unsettled issue. This is evidenced by the 2000 OECD Model Tax Convention, which notes in the Introduction (Para. 41), as did the previous versions of the Introduction, that the OECD Fiscal Affairs...

The relationship between domestic anti-abuse rules and double taxation treaties is a complex and unsettled issue. This is evidenced by the 2000 OECD Model Tax Convention, which notes in the Introduction (Para. 41), as did the previous versions of the Introduction, that the OECD Fiscal Affairs...

2008 was a significant year for scholars interested in the history of tax treaties. Apart from the Rust tax treaties history conference, the main event was the release of the OECD archives in September when the OECD celebrated the 50th anniversary of the OECD Model (or more accurately the...

This paper consider the history of the tax treaty rule on royalties up to the emergence of the modern form, the borders of the provision and the fundamental question of why we have it (viewed from an historical perspective). In the modern context of the OECD Model with zero taxation at source on...