Wolters Kluwer Beneficial Ownership in International Tax Law (Series on International Taxation)

In international tax law, the term benefi¬cial ownership refers to which parties involved in a cross-border transaction are entitled to tax treaty benefi¬ts. However, determining benefi¬cial ownership is a complex and often disputed issue, subject to different meanings in different countries. Archival research on its early use in tax treaties and in the developing OECD Model reveals that its meaning has changed dramatically over the decades, leading to new interpretations signi¬ficantly affecting current tax practice and scholarship. This book, dedicated to establishing how bene¬ficial ownership should ideally be interpreted, compares the use and interpretation of bene¬ficial ownership, both current and historical, in a wide range of national jurisdictions as well as the EU, ultimately shedding a clearer light than has heretofore been available on the meaning of the term. In her very thorough analysis of the application of benefi¬cial ownership, the author touches on such aspects as the following: historical development of the bene¬ficial ownership requirement as used in tax treaties and in the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital; rules of double taxation conventions; application of the OECDs Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profi¬t-Shifting (BEPS); the problem of so-called white income; use of the substance-over-form principle; attribution-of-income rules; and the role of agents, nominees, and conduit companies. Specifi¬c analysis of the use and interpretation of benefi¬cial ownership in a domestic law and treaty context in numerous jurisdictions with particular emphasis on the United Kingdom, Australia, the United States, and Germany is a major feature of the presentation. As a thorough guide to determining whether a person claiming tax treaty benefi¬ts is the true owner and which parties are excluded from treaty benefi¬ts and to what extent this book will be of immeasurable value to lawyers, tax authorities, policymakers, and other professionals working with taxable international transactions of any kind.