Category: Royalties

Ireland: Aviation Finance & Leasing 2022

Financing structures involving Irish entities often employ the use of a special-purpose vehicle ("SPV"), which is a company established specifically to hold title to the aircraft subject to the financing and to lease those aircraft to the operators. Ireland is a popular jurisdiction for the establishment of SPVs due to the numerous double-tax treaties in place between Ireland and other countries, many of which specifically refer to aviation in their text. Ireland is also attractive due to the confidence in the legal and court system (which is broadly based on English common law) and the number of aviation experts and leasing companies based in Ireland. ... - Continue reading

Requests for confirmation, tax treaty relief applications and tax sparing applications

IN 2021, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) 14-2021 and Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) 77-2021, which streamlined the procedure for the availment of benefits under the applicable tax treaty.  ... - Continue reading

Polish Deal introduces new minimum tax for corporations

On 8 September, Poland’s government accepted a new tax bill called the “Polish Deal,” announcing after the public consultation on the bill a significant amendment to include a special anti-avoidance measure referred to as a minimum income tax for corporations. ... - Continue reading

Canada: Treaty Shopping: MIL, MLI And ALTA Things In Between

On February 12, the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA) released its decision in The Queen v. Alta Energy Luxembourg S.a.r.l.1 (Alta Energy), a case that represents an attempt by the Canadian tax authority to relitigate the issue of whether Canada’s domestic general anti-avoidance rule (GAAR) can apply to curtail so-called “treaty shopping”.2   ... - Continue reading

Ukraine: Ukraine Ratifies Protocol Amending Double Taxation Treaty Between Ukraine And Switzerland

On 18 September 2019, the Parliament of Ukraine ratified a protocol (the Protocol) of amendments to the double tax treaty between Ukraine and Switzerland (the DTT) which had been signed by the states on 24 January 2019.  ... - Continue reading

Cyprus: Cyprus–Kazakhstan First-Time Double Tax Treaty: Cyprus Ratifies

On 24 May 2019, Cyprus ratified the first-time double tax treaty it had signed with Kazakhstan on 15 May 2019 (the DTT). Certain legal procedures now need to take place in both states following which the DTT will ‘enter into force’. The DTT will be ‘in effect’ as from the… – Continue reading

IRS gives foreign banks a break in Trump tax law’s new levy

The Internal Revenue Service is giving foreign-based banks with U.S. operations some leeway when calculating a major new international tax aimed at preventing global companies from shifting profits abroad. Multinationals often transfer payments, such as interest or royalties, to their affiliates in low-tax jurisdictions to maximize deductions and minimize tax… – Continue reading

Switzerland: The Brazil And Switzerland Double Tax Treaty: Why Is It So Significant?

Background The Brazilian and Swiss Governments signed a Double Tax Treaty (DTT) on 3 May 2018. Switzerland is one of the biggest investors in the Brazilian market and Brazil and Switzerland have already signed an Automatic Exchange of Information Agreement, which came into force on 1 January 2018. This new… – Continue reading

Has the New Inland Revenue Act paralysed the Double Tax Treaty Network of Sri Lanka? Part 2

7.What are Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement (MAAAs) The new IRA defines the “Mutual Administrative Assistance Agreement” to mean a tax information exchange agreement or other international agreement for mutual administrative assistance in relation to taxation matters. Section 75 (5) of new IRA “Mutual administrative assistance agreement” means a tax information… – Continue reading

China Sets Out How To Determine Beneficial Owner For Treaties

On February 3, 2018, China’s State Administration of Taxation set out new rules on the disallowance of tax treaty benefits where an entity fails to demonstrate it is the beneficial owner of Chinese assets from which passive income is derived. A beneficial ownership requirement is introduced in treaties to prevent… – Continue reading

UK Releases Guidance On Royalties WHT Proposal

The UK Government has released a consultation on the royalty withholding tax targeting digital firms announced in the UK’s most recent Budget. Under the proposal, the Government intends to introduce legislation in Finance Bill 2018-19 to broaden the circumstances in which certain payments made to non-UK residents have a liability… – Continue reading

Proposed new UK royalty withholding tax will apply from April 2019

A new royalty withholding tax will apply from April 2019 where a non-UK resident entity making sales in the UK pays a royalty to a connected party in a low tax jurisdiction, according to a consultation document which sets out further details of the proposal, which was first announced in… – Continue reading

Japan, Russia Agree New Double Tax Pact

The governments of Japan and Russia signed a new convention on the elimination of double taxation on September 7. The convention replaces the 1986 agreement between Japan and the former Soviet Union. It lowers withholding tax rates on cross-border income from trade and investment – in most cases to zero… – Continue reading

Multinationals Warned on Coke’s $41 Million Israel Tax Claim

Israel’s $41 million tax demand from the Coca-Cola Co. on royalties from its Israeli licensee could mark the start of a wave of claims against U.S. and other multinationals with similar business operations in the country. That could lead to a conflict with U.S. and other authorities about which country… – Continue reading

Kosovo, Switzerland sign agreement on double taxation

Kosovo and Switzerland signed on Friday an agreement regulating taxation of income and capital, which is beneficial for both countries, the Swiss federal government said. Under the agreement on double taxation dividends will be taxed at source at a maximum rate of 15%, while qualified participations – at no more… – Continue reading

License barrier as of January 2018: Limited tax deductibility for cross license order royalty payments to foreign related parties

Germany will introduce “license barrier rules” as of January 2018. The new rules will limit the tax deductibility of license fees or royalty payments to foreign related parties that benefit from preferential regimes (“Patent Box”, “IP-Box”, “License Box”) which are incompatible with the “OECD nexus approach” (“unqualified preferential regimes”) (sec…. – Continue reading

Tax treaty relief made easy

(Second of two parts) In last week’s article, we discussed the revised procedure to avail of tax treaty benefits for dividend, interest, and royalty payments under Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 8-2017. Under the amended rules, a tax treaty relief application (TTRA) is no longer required and withholding agents can… – Continue reading

Chevron: a game-changer for multinational tax avoiders

The Australian Tax Office had a superb win against Chevron in the Federal Court last week, but there is something everyone is missing, something that will turn the art of tax avoidance on its head; a game-changer for multinationals. Put simply, Chevron borrowed US$2.5 billion in the US at less… – Continue reading

[News Focus] Multinational firms using royalties to avoid tax: expert

Multinational firms in South Korea tend to transfer much higher proportions of their revenues to their headquarters overseas in dividends and royalties than their Korean counterparts, an expert said Monday. Payments in royalties and dividends are categorized as expenses, which in turn lowers their reported earnings to the Korean authorities…. – Continue reading

BEPS – Germany on the way to limit the tax deductibility of royalties

A new legislative approach of the German tax authorities leaked last December 19 will have a significant impact on the tax deductibility of royalties owed to related persons being subject to a preferential back end tax regime for IP not being in compliance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and… – Continue reading

From Israel to Canada: New Tax Treaty to Help Structure Investments

On December 21, 2016, the new Canada–Israel tax treaty entered into force. The new treaty was signed on September 21, 2016 in New York, and replaces the existing treaty that dates from 1975. For most purposes, the provisions of the new treaty took effect as of January 1, 2017. Overall,… – Continue reading

New Double Tax Treaty signed between Montenegro and Portugal

Montenegro has concluded double taxation treaties with more than 35 countries, and this number continues to grow. The most recently signed treaty is the one concluded with Montenegro. The agreement affects persons who are residents of one or both of the contracting states and applies to the Portuguese personal income… – Continue reading

Russia Removes Hong Kong From List of Offshore Tax Zones

The Russian government will no longer consider Hong Kong a Chinese-affiliated tax haven that doesn’t share tax information. Russia will strike Hong Kong from its list of offshore jurisdictions following ratification of a double tax treaty signed by the two parties last January and ratified by Russia in July, according… – Continue reading

‘We do not avoid tax’ insists Facebook

Facebook Ireland yesterday declared “we do not avoid tax” as revenues and pre-tax profits soared to record levels. New accounts show that Facebook Ireland Ltd’s corporate tax bill of €16.53m for 2015 represented only a tiny fraction of its record revenues of €7.89bn. The 63pc – €3bn – increase in… – Continue reading

DOUBLE TAXATION AGREEMENT BETWEEN SWITZERLAND AND OMAN

MUSCAT -The Double Taxation Agreement (DTA) between Switzerland and Oman aiming to increase economic ties officially came into force last month, according to the Swiss government. Its provisions will be applicable from January 1, 2017, according to the government. The agreement was originally signed on May 22, 2015 before going… – Continue reading

McDonald’s to scrap Luxembourg tax structure

Fast-food chain’s reorganisation means £800m from restaurants in Europe will flow through the UK instead McDonald’s is to scrap its controversial Luxembourg tax structure in a corporate shakeup that means $1bn (£800m) of income from fast-food restaurants across Europe will flow through the UK instead. The move comes 12 months… – Continue reading

Tax benefits of using Malta as an IP regime

For myriad reasons, Malta has over the years established itself as an ideal jurisdiction to hold intellectual property rights. The country offers many tax benefits on income derived from Intellectual Property. Apart from the tax exemption on income derived from patents, copyrights and trademarks as will be further explained below,… – Continue reading

U.K. Seeks to Incorporate Nonresident Companies Into Tax Regime

The U.K. government said it would investigate bringing nonresident companies’ income into the country’s corporation tax regime. The consultation on the move is expected to begin at Budget 2017 in March, the Treasury said in its Autumn Statement Nov. 23. “The government wants to deliver equal tax treatment to ensure… – Continue reading

UK, Colombia In Double Tax Deal

The UK and Colombia signed a double tax agreement (DTA) on November 2, which is intended to support trade and investment by capping withholding tax on cross-border income. The agreement was signed by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Jane Ellison, and the Colombian Finance Minister, Mauricio Cardenas, during President… – Continue reading

It will promote greater economic cooperation between Latvia and Switzerland

Wednesday, 2 November, Finance Minister Dana Reizniece-oak and Swiss Ambassador Latvian Marcus Niklauss Paul Dutli ( Markus Niklaus Paul Dutly ) signed the Latvian Republic and the Government of the Swiss Federal Council Protocol amending the two parties on 31 January 2002 concluded the Convention for the Avoidance double taxation… – Continue reading

McDonald’s UK pays £123m in royalties to Luxembourg

The British arm of McDonald’s paid £123m for “franchise rights” last year, as part of a controversial structure that is under investigation for enabling unfair tax avoidance. The European Commission launched a probe last year into whether Luxembourg’s tax arrangements for McDonald’s amounted to illegal state aid, as part of… – Continue reading

India-Korea DTAA notified, capital gains to be taxed at source

India has notified the revised double tax avoidance agreement with South Korea under which capital gains tax will be levied at the source with effect from April 1, 2017. The existing Double Taxation Avoidance Convention, which has been in vogue for three decades, provides for residence-based taxation of capital gains… – Continue reading

Japan, Austria Agree MAP Arbitration

The Governments of Japan and Austria have agreed in principle to amend their double taxation avoidance agreement to further promote trade and investment between the two countries. The new agreement would enable arbitration under the mutual agreement procedure to ensure settlement of double tax disputes. The new agreement will also… – Continue reading

Chinese dual tax burden relieved

An extensive tax treaty that would shield Chinese businesses operating in the Kingdom from double taxation, and vice versa, has been drafted and is expected to be approved imminently, according to a senior Cambodian tax official. Experts said yesterday the double taxation agreement (DTA) would create a clear legal framework… – Continue reading

Ukraine and Luxembourg sign a Protocol modifying their double tax treaty

On 30 September 2016 Ukraine signed a protocol (the “Protocol”) modifying the not-yet-in-force Convention between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion with respect to Taxes on Income and Capital (the “Convention”)…. – Continue reading

BHP Billiton has evaded taxes for more than a decade, says Wayne Swan

Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan has accused one of Australia’s biggest companies of evading taxes for more than a decade, and for lying to the former Labor government during the height of the mining tax debate. Swan used parliamentary privilege on Wednesday to claim BHP Billiton had been “gaming the… – Continue reading

Facebook pays just £4million in tax while lavishing British staff with £165MILLION

Accounts show each of the firm’s 682 workers took home average of £242,000 each in 2015 Facebook lavished £165million on its UK staff last year, while handing the taxpayer just £4million. Accounts show each of the firm’s 682 workers took home average of £242,000 each in 2015. The bumper payout… – Continue reading