An increasing number of States have entered the market looking to invest resources in foreign assets. This emergence of States acting as investors, managing the wealth of a nation and competing in the marketplace with private investors, has attracted growing and wide attention. This book is the first in-depth analysis of the international tax aspects of sovereign wealth investors, and serves as a comprehensive guide to designing tax policy, from a source State perspective, toward inbound sovereign wealth investment. Drawing on a wide range of relevant sources, including international instruments, domestic tax legislation, administrative practice, (international) case law and the writings of highly qualified publicists, the author fully addresses the following aspects of the subject: – the definition, functions, legal form, governance, home State tax status, etc. of sovereign wealth investors; – tax policy considerations and objectives (i.e., neutrality, equity and international attractiveness) from a source State perspective vis-à-vis foreign sovereign wealth investors; and – the potential impact of the sovereign immunity principle, bilateral tax treaties and European (Union) law on source States’ ability to achieve these tax policy objectives in relation to foreign sovereign wealth investors. The conceptual framework developed by the author will greatly assist source States in introducing new tax policy or in evaluating or reconsidering their existing tax policy vis-à-vis foreign sovereign wealth investors. In addition, practitioners, academics and (home States of) sovereign wealth investors will welcome this first authoritative analysis of an important but insufficiently understood subject in international tax.

This comprehensive book adopts a nuanced yet straightforward approach to analysing the complex phenomenon of international tax competition. Using the ongoing international efforts of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU) as a basis for its analysis, it explores the mixed effects of tax competition and offers an effective approach that takes account of the asymmetrical global context.

The rules of the Member States on the taxation of the foreign business income of companies, whether such rules are based on the fiscal principle of territoriality or on the principle of worldwide taxation, are in conflict with the objective of achievement of the internal market. This objective is indeed difficult to reach when it comes to the taxation of foreign income, given that the Member States are far from taxing companies doing business cross-border as if their operations were purely domestic. Areas of conflict include particularly the taxation of foreign profits, the deduction of foreign losses, the elimination of international double taxation and the attribution of profits to permanent establishments. This dissertation analyses this conflict on the basis of a study of the case law of the European Court of Justice as well as some of the key provisions of the European treaties. It appears that both the fiscal principle of territoriality and the principle of worldwide taxation give rise to complex issues of compatibility with the law of the European Union. Although the analysis conducted throughout the dissertation provides some guidance for the taxation of the foreign business income of companies, it is concluded that the Court cannot, by itself, efficiently resolve the conflict between such taxation and the objective of achievement of the internal market.

This dissertation aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the taxation of investment derivatives and the relationship between the derivatives and the accrual and realization methods. Investment derivatives, such as convertible bonds, include an initial investment and a derivative (an option) to buy or sell or to participate in the value movements of some underlying property. The principal focus of this study is on three universal tax issues, namely valuation, timing and the taxation of unrealized gains. As a common principle, interest income and capital gains are treated more similarly in corporate taxation than in individual taxation. Moreover, the taxation of financial instruments is currently in a turn-around phase in several countries, not least because of the implementation of the IFRS rules in accounting and the related fair value principle. The obligation to use fair values in accounting apparently motivates tax legislators to strive to use the same principles in taxation as well. The comparative method plays a major role in this study by examining the tax legislations and the tax practices of different countries. An in-depth analysis of the similarities and differences of tax laws and practices in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Finland and Sweden is provided. This is of particular interest as the underlying components, single and often specified financial derivatives, are basically identical. While this study does not deal with individual tax treaties or bilateral transactions, the OECD Model is scrutinized in order to highlight the underlying principles of the given recommendations, especially with respect to interest income and capital gains. Due to the increasing importance of IFRS rules in accounting, the study is not limited to tax law, but also looks at issues from the perspective of finance, accounting and economics.

This thesis focuses upon VAT in the context of the Community's internal market. Its central aim is to prove that the current EU VAT system is incompatible with the concept of internal market as set out in the EC Treaty and interpreted by the Court of Justice. The study commences with an analysis of the concept of internal market, the main objective of which is to establish the basic legal framework for the proposed thesis. As part of this examination, it is demonstrated that the EC Treaty creates a temporally unlimited obligation for the Community to approve legislation with the aim of establishing and improving the functioning of the internal market. By analysis of existing EU VAT jurisprudence, it is argued that obstacles cannot be overcome through incremental developments emerging from the Court of Justice, but can only be resolved by fundamental and substantive legislative amendment.

The book analyses the taxation of investment funds and their investors from the standpoint of domestic tax laws, tax treaties and EC law. It also provides a comprehensive understanding of the tax issues arising in the cross-border transactions of investment funds and private fund investors in the European Union. The viewpoints of the source state of income, residence state of the investment fund as well as the residence state of the investor are all considered. The book takes a comparative approach by covering five EU Member States (the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Luxembourg and Finland). On the basis of the examination at the Member State level, the present tax rules and practices are tested against the fundamental freedoms of the EC Treaty. The conclusion is that there are still various tax measures that are likely to be in conflict with EC law. The book also discusses possibilities of adopting targeted measures of positive integration at the level of the European Union with a view to enhancing the objective of the single investment fund market.

This study compares cross-border consumption taxation of digital supplies in business-to-consumer transactions from an international coordination perspective. Hence, the various classifications of digital supplies and the provisions for deciding the place of taxation are compared and examined to identify cases of double taxation and unintentional nontaxation or potential risks thereof. In addition, possible remedies for double taxation and unintentional non-taxation are discussed.

Since its Company Tax Communication of 2001, the European Commission has been promoting a comprehensive harmonization of corporation taxes within the Internal Market on the basis of consolidation and formulary apportionment of the profits of cross-border enterprises, both in the form of a Home State Taxation (HST) and of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. This study assesses whether this approach represents a viable alternative to the arm's length standard currently applied in international tax law. The study comprises four parts. First, a theoretical concept of formulary apportionment is presented, followed by an evaluation of the practical experiences of four jurisdictions (United States, Canada, Switzerland and Germany) with formulary apportionment at the subnational level. Next, a proposal for harmonization on the basis of consolidation and apportionment is developed, and the book concludes with an overall analysis of the merits and drawbacks of the proposed model for harmonization.

The special tax rules for performing artistes lead to obstacles. This book considers the problems regarding, for example, the determination of taxable income and the non-deductibility of expenses and tax credits in the country of residence, and gives clear examples of excessive taxation.