OECD releases global standard for automatic exchange of tax information
Starting in 2012, political interest has increasingly focused on the opportunities provided by an automatic exchange of information between tax authorities. On 6 September 2013, the G20 Leaders committed to the automatic exchange of information as the new global standard and fully supported the OECD work for developing a single standard for automatic exchange of
OECD Publishes 2014 Update to Model Tax Convention
The OECD Council approved the 2014 Update to the OECD Model Tax Convention (the 2014 Update) on 15 July 2014. The 2014 Update was already approved by the Committee on Fiscal Affairs on 26 June 2014. The 2014 Update can be found here. The 2014 Update mainly reflects the work that was carried out by the OECD
Update: Member States agree to amend Parent-Subsidiary Directive
The European Union’s (EU) 28 Finance Ministers agreed, on June 20, 2014, to amend the EU’s Parent –Subsidiary Directive (Directive), addressing the effects of tax arbitrage resulting from EU Member States’ varying tax treatments of hybrid loans. The Member States have agreed that the Directive’s benefits should not result in ‘double non-taxation,’ that is, income going untaxed
Danish National Tax Tribunal publishes its first decision regarding a cash pool arrangement
In early 2014,the National Tax Tribunal (Landsskatteretten) published its first transfer pricing decision regarding a cash pool arrangement. The decision concerns the determination of intercompany interest rates on deposits and borrowings in the cash pool. The National Tax Tribunal ruled that the Danish tax authorities were allowed to disregard the transfer pricing applied by the
EU Member States agree to amend the EU PSD to tackle hybrid loan arrangements
On 20 June 2014, the EU’s Council of Economic and Finance (ECOFIN) Ministers took place in Luxembourg. ECOFIN agreed amongst others on the amendments to the Parent-Subsidiary directive (PSD) and adopted conclusions on the report of the Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation. Proposed amendments on the Parent – Subsidiary directive The ECOFIN agreed
Formal EU State Aid investigation into certain tax rulings
On June 11, 2014, the European Commission opened a formal State Aid investigation procedure into the transfer pricing arrangements and corporate taxation of certain companies in Ireland, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. See this link for more information. Wider inquiry into tax rulings In parallel to these three formal investigations, the Commission will continue its wider inquiry
Parliamentary question regarding the application of Belgian thin cap rules for cash pooling activities
The Minister of Finance answered a Parliamentary question on how the Belgian thin cap rules should be applied in practice to cash pooling activities. The Minister was asked a.o. how a daily assessment of the 5:1 debt-equity ratio links in with the netting of interest paid and received for cash pooling companies (for more information
Advice Belgian ruling commission on use of GAAR in reorganizations
Since the introduction of the new general anti abuse (section 344 Belgian Income Tax Code) provision in Belgium, there was uncertainty on how the latter interacts with the existing specific anti-abuse provision in place for reorganizations (section 183bis Belgian Income Tax Code) Recently the ruling commission issued a new advice with their view on what to
