Imposing UK tax on an entity or those linked to it involves understanding what kind of entity is being dealt with, especially when it is formed outside the UK. Is it a company, a partnership, a trust or something else? This often involves considering whether the entity is ‘tax transparent’ and if so, what that means. While of great importance, the UK tax rules for classifying entities are notoriously vague, as is the UK meaning of ‘tax transparency’. This book breaks new ground by exploring these topics comprehensively, in a world which is well aware of the problems created by entity classification mismatches. In so doing, it addresses, with emphasis on UK tax law, issues such as: the meaning of a ‘partnership’ and a ‘trust’; what is meant and is not meant by ‘tax transparency’, across a range of taxes and situations; how tax treaties have dealt with entity classification questions and related ‘transparency’ issues; how entity classification questions are impacted by EU law; and how the UK approach could be improved, policy-wise and practically, without facilitating tax avoidance. The book compares in detail the UK entity classification approach with that of the US, the Netherlands and France. Appendices consider the unusual UK capital gains tax treatment of partnerships, as well as the special transparency rules which can apply where a partnership is party to loans or derivative contracts, or owns intangible assets. Questions of entity classification and tax transparency are of fundamental importance in any mature tax system and especially in a globalised economy. This book unlocks those questions for both academics and practitioners.

This handbook provides guidance for the assessment teams and the reviewed jurisdictions that are participating in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the “Global Forum”) peer reviews and non-member reviews.

Edited by Victor Thuronyi, this book offers an introduction to a broad range of issues in comparative tax law and is based on comparative discussion of the tax laws of developed countries. It presents practical models and guidelines for drafting tax legislation that can be used by officials of developing and transition countries. Volume I covers general issues, some special topics, and major taxes other than income tax.

Transparency in government operations is widely regarded as an important precondition for macroeconomic fiscal sustainability, good governance, and overall fiscal rectitude. Notably, the Interim Committee, at its April and September 1996 meetings, stressed the need for greater fiscal transparency. Prompted by these concerns, this paper represents a first attempt to address many of the aspects of transparency in government operations. It provides an overview of major issues in fiscal transparency and examines the IMF's role in promoting transparency in government operations.

This publication contains the following four parts: A model Competent Authority Agreement (CAA) for the automatic exchange of CRS information; the Common Reporting Standard; the Commentaries on the CAA and the CRS; and the CRS XML Schema User Guide.

This action plan, created in response to a request by the G20, identifies a set of domestic and international actions to address the problems of base erosion and profit sharing.

The topics of double non-taxation and hybrid entities have acquired particular importance in a context where transformations in the tax world have led to international commitments materialised in the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. In what is the first systematic in-depth analysis of the OECD BEPS Action Plan 2 and hybrid entities, this timely book provides a critical review of the approach adopted by the OECD and proposes a deeply informed alternative method to deal with the problem of hybrid entity mismatches. The author analyses the interaction between the double non-taxation outcome and the use of hybrid entities in an approach not strictly linked to any specific tax jurisdiction. To this end, the analysis includes case studies and examples from a range of jurisdictions emphasising the international tax context, also including the application of tax treaties. Among the seminal matters covered in this edition are the following: foundations of the concepts of double non-taxation and hybrid entities; extensive analysis based on the rules of characterisation of foreign entities for tax purposes in the United States, Spain, Denmark, and Germany, as well as on the Poland/United States and Canada/United States tax treaties; in-depth analysis of the implications of Article 1(2) OECD Model Tax Convention and Article 3(1) Multilateral Instrument (MLI), especially considering the position of developing (source) countries; detailed analysis of the OECD BEPS Action 2 and its recommendations (linking rules), including its implementation in the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD); and elaborated alternative method to deal with hybrid entity mismatches (reactive coordination rule), which is informed by the tax policy aims of simplicity, coherence, and administrability. Detailed comparisons between the author’s proposal and other existing rules elucidate common points and deviations. If merely for its unparalleled clarification of the issues, this book will prove of immeasurable value to practitioners, tax authorities, policymakers and academics concerned with international tax law. Beyond that, as an authoritative guide that promises to reorient the discussion to what really matters in the debate regarding hybrid entity mismatches, this analysis elaborates solutions applicable to a generality of cases worldwide and, therefore, hugely promotes the urgent quest for alternative views.