Parties to cross-border disputes arising anywhere in the vast Portuguese-speaking world – a community of more than 230 million in a space that offers a wide array of investment opportunities across four continents – increasingly seek Portugal as their preferred seat of arbitration. A signatory to all relevant international conventions, Portugal has proven to be an ‘arbitration-friendly’ jurisdiction. This volume is the first and so far only book in English that provides a thorough, in-depth analysis of international arbitration law and practice in Portugal. Its contributing authors are among the most highly regarded legal names in the country, including scholars, arbitrators, and practitioners. The authors describe how international arbitration proceedings are conducted in Portugal, what cautions should be taken, and what procedural strategies may be suitable in particular cases. They provide insightful answers to questions such as the following: What matters can be submitted to arbitration under Portuguese law? What are the validity requirements for an arbitration agreement? How do the State courts interact with arbitration proceedings and what is the attitude of such courts toward international arbitration? What are the rules governing evidentiary matters in arbitration? How is an arbitration tribunal constituted? How are arbitrators appointed? How may they be challenged? How can an international arbitral award be recognized and enforced? How does the Portuguese legal system address the issue of damages and what specific damages are admitted? How are the costs of arbitration proceedings estimated and allocated? The book includes analyses of arbitration related to specific fields of the law, notably sports, administrative, tax, intellectual property rights (especially regarding reference and generic medicines), and corporate disputes. Each chapter provides, for the topics it addresses, an examination of the applicable laws, rules, arbitration practice, and views taken by arbitral tribunals and state courts as well as those of the most highly considered scholars. As a detailed examination of the legal framework and of all procedural steps of an arbitration in Portugal, from the drafting of an arbitration agreement to the enforcement of an award, this book constitutes an invaluable resource for parties involved in or considering an international arbitration in this country. The guidance that it seeks to provide in respect of any problem likely to arise in this context can be useful to arbitrators, judges, academics, and interested lawyers.

This paper set forth internationally agreed principles and standards for the value added tax (VAT) treatment of the most common types of international transactions, with a particular focus on trade in services and intangibles. Its aim is to minimise inconsistencies in the application of VAT in a cross-border context with a view to reducing uncertainty and risks of double taxation and unintended non-taxation in international trade. It also includes the recommended principles and mechanisms to address the challenges for the collection of VAT on crossborder sales of digital products that had been identified in the context of the OECD/G20 Project on Base and Erosion and Profit Shifting (the BEPS Project).

This book integrates legal, economic, and administrative materials about value added tax. Its principal purpose is to provide comprehensive teaching tools - laws, cases, analytical exercises, and questions drawn from the experience of countries and organizations from all areas of the world. It also serves as a resource for tax practitioners and government officials that must grapple with issues under their VAT or their prospective VAT. The comparative presentation of this volume offers an analysis of policy issues relating to tax structure and tax base as well as insights into how cases arising out of VAT disputes have been resolved. The authors have expanded the coverage to include new VAT related developments in Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia. A chapter on financial services has been added as well as an analysis of significant new cases.

Explores how the value-added tax (VAT) has risen from relative obscurity to become one of the world's most dominant revenue instruments.

The value-added tax (VAT) has the potential to generate significant government revenue. Despite its intrinsic self-enforcement capacity, many tax administrations find it challenging to refund excess input credits, which is critical to a well-functioning VAT system. Improperly functioning VAT refund practices can have profound implications for fiscal policy and management, including inaccurate deficit measurement, spending overruns, poor budget credibility, impaired treasury operations, and arrears accumulation.This note addresses the following issues: (1) What are VAT refunds and why should they be managed properly? (2) What practices should be put in place (in tax policy, tax administration, budget and treasury management, debt, and fiscal statistics) to help manage key aspects of VAT refunds? For a refund mechanism to be credible, the tax administration must ensure that it is equipped with the strategies, processes, and abilities needed to identify VAT refund fraud. It must also be prepared to act quickly to combat such fraud/schemes.

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.