Tackling complex discrimination in international taxation

Resource Information

The item Tackling complex discrimination in international taxation represents a specific, individual, material embodiment of a distinct intellectual or artistic creation found in International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation.
This item is available to borrow from 1 library branch.

Summary: Article 24 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital contains four independent non-discrimination rules aimed at disadvantages imposed by a source state. Traditionally, these rules have been understood to apply separately to very specific cases rather than as an overarching equality rule. However, this narrow interpretation tends to obscure the interaction of the rights guaranteed in those norms and thus leads to unsatisfactory results where disadvantages in tax law are based on multiple factors rather than on only one criterion. This article examines such "complex discrimination" and proposes a solution based on a normative understanding of non-discrimination provisions as specific equality standards, suggesting the combined sequential application of several non-discrimination rules as the way forward to tackle these cases. This approach promises a doctrinally sound and practical solution that is readily available to taxpayers, as it can be achieved without either a change of the current tax treaty network or even of the Commentary on the OECD Model Tax Convention

Work

Summary: Article 24 of the OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital contains four independent non-discrimination rules aimed at disadvantages imposed by a source state. Traditionally, these rules have been understood to apply separately to very specific cases rather than as an overarching equality rule. However, this narrow interpretation tends to obscure the interaction of the rights guaranteed in those norms and thus leads to unsatisfactory results where disadvantages in tax law are based on multiple factors rather than on only one criterion. This article examines such "complex discrimination" and proposes a solution based on a normative understanding of non-discrimination provisions as specific equality standards, suggesting the combined sequential application of several non-discrimination rules as the way forward to tackle these cases. This approach promises a doctrinally sound and practical solution that is readily available to taxpayers, as it can be achieved without either a change of the current tax treaty network or even of the Commentary on the OECD Model Tax Convention