This book is a comprehensive review of the tax treaty concept of a `permanent establishment' from its origins in early Prussian and British tax law to its present manifestation in over 1250 bilateral income tax treaties written by two of the leading authors on the subject. The book covers both Anglo Saxon and civil law precedent, The OECD and US model treaties used in developed country treaties and the differing approach of the UN model for developing countries. The book exhanstively deals with all aspects of the `fixed place of business' and `dependent agency' permanent establishments and the exceptions for independent agents, permitted ancilliary activities and parent subsidiary relationships. The text integrates conceptual analyses and technical discussion with relevant tax planning opportunities, appropriately highlighted or diagrammed. A number of valuable tax planning techniques are presented which have not been previously discussed in any literature.

Permanent establishment is the key concept for allocating taxation rights in respect of business income, and the question ‘Is there a permanent establishment?’ is a tax treaty issue that advisers, government officials, and courts perennially confront. Based on a ‘fixed link to the ground’, the idea has become progressively more difficult to apply until, at this stage, re-evaluation has become a political necessity. If a permanent establishment may exist in the context of e-commerce, the concept of a geographical presence must be redefined. However, the question remains: Is e-commerce a sufficient reason for challenging the well-established permanent establishment nexus? Drawing on case law, administrative practice, and business decisions in numerous jurisdictions, the author discusses the permanent establishment criteria under conditions of e-commerce and the service economy. He shows that the OECD Model Convention and its commentaries already offer the basis for the evolution of the analysis of the concept, and that the preservation of permanent establishment protects and maintains the level playing field between capital importing and capital exporting economies. He examines in depth such elements as the following: ;the prevalence of commercial coherence over geographic coherence; the role of value-added tax; services permanent establishment; relevant definitions of ‘activity’ and ‘personnel’; multiple permanent establishments; supervision activity and sub-contracting; the differences between civil law and common law concepts of representation; particular treatment of the insurance sector; the ‘force of attraction’ concept; and specific exceptions (e.g., transportation, artists and sportsmen, rental income, agricultural activities, pipelines). Taking into account important distinctions between two model conventions (OECD and UN), as well as pertinent EU directives and the impact of EU law, the author proposes minor amendments to the OECD Model that adapt it to economic reality and current trends in jurisprudence and that can be implemented immediately. An appendix includes Article 5 and its commentaries as they have evolved since 1963, with the successive addenda and deletions. The author’s 20-plus years of experience as a tax lawyer lend the presentation a thoroughly practical aspect. The work addresses in more detail than any other publication the topic of profit allocation to a permanent establishment in the e-commerce world, an issue which is evolving rapidly in the current economic environment. Tax advisors, lawyers, and interested academics and policymakers will benefit from the book’s clear analysis of the conditions under which a permanent establishment not only should be preserved, but also how it is likely to be adapted in the future.

A new edition of the preeminent work on the permanent establishment (PE) is a major event in tax law scholarship. Taking into account changes in judicial and administrative practice as well as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD’s) and the United Nation’s (UN’s) work in the three decades since the first edition, the present study brings the analysis up to date with the current internationally accepted interpretation of PE. The analysis is based on more than 720 cases from more than 20 countries, in addition to the OECD and UN model treaties and more than 630 books, articles, and official documents. The increased significance of the digital economy has rendered the traditional concept of PE inadequate for the allocation of taxing jurisdiction over the modern, mobile or digital international business. The author’s in-depth analysis explains the legal elements of the PE principle with attention to their continuing benefit and their shortcomings: criteria defining a PE- place of business, location, right of use, duration, business connection, business activity, ordinary course of business; evidence of a right of use to a place of business; business activities included in the PE concept of the tax treaties; identification of projects offshore and onshore; UN model treaty deviations from the OECD agency clause; distinction between jurisdictions with significant natural resources and countries possessing the capital, technology and know-how necessary to explore and exploit these resources; and how policies in each country may erode the PE concept. The book provides many synopses of court decisions and administrative rulings upon which the analysis is based. In addition to cases previously published in law reports and other publications, a number of unpublished decisions are included. A key word index makes it easy to find what is needed in any particular matter. The PE principle, in one version or another, is used in several thousand tax treaties in force today. This updated comprehensive study reveals the obligations imposed through the use of PE in tax treaties and will continue to be of immeasurable value to tax practitioners and scholars worldwide. In addition, the discussion of whether the notion of PE is an appropriate criterion for taxing jurisdiction in international fiscal law today provides authoritative and insightful food for thought.

Permanent Establishments (PEs) are a key facet of international taxation. They constitute the crucial threshold for the assignment of taxing rights to a jurisdiction in all cases of enterprises operating in more than one country. The issue of whether there is a PE, and how much profit should be allocated to it, is an increasingly important factor in tax planning, tax accounting, tax compliance, and related tax risk management. Groundbreaking developments have reshaped the face of the classical PE concept during the year 2017. Following action item no. 7 of the Anti-BEPS efforts of G20 and OECD, the OECD has presented the Multilateral Instrument (MLI) on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting in June 2017. Based on the MLI as well as earlier drafts, Article 5 of the OECD Model Tax Convention and the Official Commentary have been amended in November 2017. Similarly, Article 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on the allocation of income in PE situations is influenced by the October 2015 OECD BEPS proposals. This academically rigorous yet thoroughly practical work provides comprehensive guidance on a variety of complex PE issues. Its initial chapters analyse the latest OECD and EU developments in the context of Articles 5 and 7 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. 21 country chapters cover domestic PE issues as well as country-specific treaty developments from a practical perspective. Contributors: Fabrizio Acerbis, Maret Ansperi, Yumiko Arai, Ákos Burján, Anna Berglund, Peter Collins, Mike Cooper, David Cuellar, Veronika Daurer, Frank Feng, Mikhail Filinov, Sandra Fleurier, Jose Antonio Gonzalez, Herbert Greinecker, Søren Jesper Hansen, Lars Ellegård Holst, Mauricio Hurtado, Martin Jann, Renaud Jouffroy, David Lermer, Peter Lindblad, Iren Lipre, Jessica Ma, Anna Mallol, Dennis Matthijs, Hamish McElwee, Kunal Mehta, Osman Mollagee, Matthew Mui, Ramón Mullerat, Luis Felipe Muñoz, Stephen Nauheim, Francesco Nuzzolo, Yoshiyasu Okada, Marianne Orell, Oren Penn, Martin Poulsen, Lene Munk Rasmussen, Ekkehart Reimer, Daniel Rinke, Stefan Schmid, Mathias Schreiber, Vishal J. Shah, Smit Sheth, Tom Stuer, Maarten Temmerman, Eszter Turcsik, Hein Vermeulen, Huili Wang, Sonia Watson, Ciska Wisman, Raymond Wong & Alan Yam.

Detailed research on the UN Model Convention’s unique features The UN Model Convention has a significant influence on international tax treaty practice and is especially used by emerging and developing countries as a starting point for treaty negotiations. Driven by the aim to achieve consistency in the international tax treaty practice, the structure and content is, to a large extent, similar in the UN Model and the OECD Model. However, whereas the OECD has historically focused its efforts on issues mainly relevant for developed countries, the UN Tax Committee has continuously attempted to specifically take into account tax treaty policies for developing countries when drafting and amending the UN Model Convention. Compared to the OECD Model Convention, the UN Model Convention aims at giving more weight to the source principle. Popular examples are the PE definition in the UN Model which provides for a lower threshold than Article 5 of the OECD Model or Article 12A on Fees for Technical Services which has been introduced with the latest amendment of the UN Model Convention 2017 and allows for a withholding tax to be levied on payments to non-residents when the payer of the fee is a resident of that contracting State irrespective of where the services are provided. Interestingly, in the discussions of the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy, the OECD and the G20 are also exploring options to allocate more taxing rights to the jurisdiction of the customer and/or user, i.e., the ‘market jurisdictions’. As this has traditionally been the focus of the UN Model Convention, its unique features and developing countries’ practices could be taken into account when exploring new nexus rules that are not constrained by the physical presence requirement. This book contains the master’s theses of the full-time LL.M. program 2018-2019 for which ‘Special Features of the UN Model Convention’ has been chosen as the general topic. With this book, the authors and editors do not aim at discussing each article of the UN Model Convention but rather focus on the unique features of the UN Model Convention, which are explored in detail. This is supplemented with an evaluation of the function and relevance of the UN Tax Committee in the international tax policy discussion and with an analysis of the influences of the OECD's BEPS project on the UN Model.he OECD's BEPS project on the UN Model.

Dependent Agents as Permanent Establishments The article on business profits may be the most relevant one in tax treaties. If patterned after the OECD Model Tax Convention, this article allocates the exclusive taxing right over the profits of an enterprise to the residence country, unless the enterprise carries on business in the source country through a permanent establishment. Considering the importance of allocating taxation rights, tax authorities and courts of many countries have increasingly focused on the concept of agency permanent establishment. This book includes 12 chapters which provide an in-depth analysis of the key aspects that need to be taken into account for interpreting the concept of agency permanent establishment. It incorporates the perspectives of leading scholars and practitioners dealing with international tax cases. This book is designed to provide essential insights to academics, practitioners, tax officials and judges who deal or are interested in the field of international taxation.

This book provides an insight into business structuring and the related tax considerations. It covers all important aspects of fixed place of business and dependent agency types of PE, as well as the exceptions for independent agents, permitted ancillary activities, and parent-subsidiary relationships. It provides commentary on applicable rules and discusses regulations and case law from multiple jurisdictions. This new edition has entirely new chapters on e-commerce, supply chain and contract manufacturing structures and service PEs; updates of model treaty changes and PE rulings globally; and features implications of new developments in mineral extraction, real estate leasing and construction management. The book identifies key PE rulings not only in OECD countries, but also in the emerging BRIC countries.