Taxation of Cross-Border Hybrid Finance - A Legal Analysis PDF Download

Author: Eva Eberhartinger
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The neat division of company finance into equity and debt does not in reality do justice to the enormous diversity of financial instruments available. A wide variety of instruments incorporate elements of both equity and debt. Usually, these financial instruments are referred to as hybrid instruments, or mezzanine finance. Although hybrid instruments may be issued for a variety of non-tax reasons, taxation issues have a considerable impact on management's financing decisions with respect to hybrid instruments. Tax treatment of hybrid instruments varies among coutries. This may cause severe distortions to most countries efforts to ensure single taxation of the yield. The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of existing measures of international tax coordination (Double Taxation Conventions, EU Directives) in the field of cross-border intragroup finance. In order to do so, the paper provides a comprehensive survey of the possible fiscal consequences of intra-group cross-border hybrid finance on the basis of a formal analysis of the relevant provisions in national, international and European tax law. The paper demonstrates that despite the various measures to prevent double taxation and ensure single taxation of remuneration of equity and debt within groups of companies, the use of hybrid instruments can still generate cases of double taxation as well as cases of double non-taxation (white income). This is a major issue for tax planning, because it implies that an enterprise with operations in a given group of countries can choose instruments that result in double non-taxation. Similarly, an enterprise with given financial needs can choose appropriate countries to establish subsidiaries so as to optimise or even entirely eliminate taxes on the payments received. For national and international legislators, this is important because it shows that existing systems for the taxation of dividends and interest on hybrid finance in many cases fail to ensure single taxation of the income received.

Author: Jakob Bundgaard
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9041183183
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 498

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Book Description
Financial innovation allows companies and other entities that wish to raise capital to choose from a myriad of possible instruments that can be tailored to meet the specific business needs of the issuer and investor. However, such instruments put increasing pressure on a question that is fundamental to the tax and financial systems of a country – the distinction between debt and equity. Focusing on hybrid financial instruments (HFIs) – which lie somewhere along the debt-equity continuum, but where exactly depends on the terms of the instrument as well as on applicable laws – this book analyses their treatment under both domestic law and tax treaties. Key jurisdictions, including the EU, some of its Member States, and the United States, are covered. Advocating for a broader scope of application of HFIs as part of the financing of companies in Europe alongside traditional sources of debt and equity financing, the book addresses such issues and topics as the following: • problems associated with the debt-equity distinction in international tax law; • cross-border tax arbitrage and linking rules; • drivers behind the use and design of HFIs; • tax law impact of perpetual and super maturity debt instruments, profit participating loans, convertible bonds, mandatory convertible bonds, contingent convertibles, preference shares and warrant loans on HFIs; • financial accounting treatment; • administrative guidance; • influence of the TFEU on Member States’ approaches to classification of HFIs; • interpretation of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive by the European Court of Justice; • applicability of the OECD Model Tax Convention; and • implications of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. Throughout this book, the analysis draws upon preparatory works, case law, and legal theory in English, German, and the Scandinavian languages. In conclusion, the author considers tax policy issues, and identifies and outlines possible high-level solutions. Actual or potential users of HFIs will greatly appreciate the clarity and insight offered here into the capacity and tax implications of HFIs. The book not only examines whether existing legislation is sufficient to handle the issues raised by international HFIs, but also provides an in-depth analysis of the interaction between corporate financing and tax law in the light of today’s financial innovation. Corporate executives and their counsel will find it indispensable in the international taxation landscape that is currently coming into view, and academics and policymakers will hugely augment their understanding of a complex and constantly changing area of tax law.

Author: Sven-Eric Bärsch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3642324576
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Despite the enormous diversity and complexity of financial instruments, the current taxation of hybrid financial instruments and the remuneration derived therefrom are characterized by a neat division into dividend-generating equity and interest-generating debt as well as by a coexistence of source- and residence-based taxation. This book provides a comparative analysis of the classification of hybrid financial instruments in the national tax rules currently applied by Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands as well as in the relevant tax treaties and EU Directives. Moreover, based on selected hybrid financial instruments, mismatches in these tax classifications, which lead to tax planning opportunities and risks and thus are in conflict with the single tax principle, are identified. To address these issues, the author provides reform options that are in line with the dichotomous debt-equity framework, as he/she suggests the coordination of either tax classifications or tax treatments.

Author: Félix Daniel Martínez Laguna
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9403510846
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 685

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Book Description
Hybrid Financial Instruments, Double Non-taxation and Linking Rules Félix Daniel Martínez Laguna Hybrid financial instruments (HFIs) are widespread ordinary financial instruments that combine debt and equity features in their terms and design and may lead to double non-taxation across borders. This important book provides a deeply informed and critical analysis and guide to the “linking rules” developed to combat double non-taxation stemming from HFIs within the framework of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the anti-avoidance initiatives of the European Union (EU). These complex rules have now become essential in international taxation. The book deals incisively with crucial theoretical and practical issues as the following: Economic and legal reasons for financing business activity through debt instruments, equity instruments and/or HFIs. Qualification of financial instruments from different perspectives such as economics, corporate finance, corporate law, financial accounting law, regulatory law and tax law and their interrelation. The concept of double non-taxation as a mere outcome of parallel exercises of sovereignty by different states and the role it plays within the international debate. The concepts of tax planning, tax avoidance and the misleading concept of aggressive tax planning within a tax competition international scenario and their relation with HFIs. Comprehensive policy, legal and technical detail and explanation of the linking rules proposed by the OECD (i.e., BEPS Project Action 2) and the EU (e.g., Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive). The (in)compatibility of linking rules with existing tax treaty rules and EU primary law. The author refers throughout to relevant model convention provisions, EU case law and a vast number of references of official documentation and literature. With its detailed attention to the concept and legal nature of HFIs and double non-taxation, the critical and comprehensive analysis of the linking rules developed by the OECD and the EU, this provocative book allows to reconsider the legality of these linking rules and will quickly become a much-used problem-solving resource for policymakers, tax practitioners, tax authorities and tax academics. This book allows to rethink whether linking rules relate to a solution or create actual legal issues.

Author: Jesper Barenfeld
Publisher: IBFD
ISBN: 9076078858
Category : Double taxation
Languages : en
Pages : 431

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Book Description
Aims to identify and analyse problems related to double taxation of income attributable to cross border partnerships in asymmetrical situations de lege lata. This refers to cases where the same partnership, in across border owner/entity situation, is recognized as a taxable person in one country, but as transparent for tax purposes in the other."

Author: Gaspar Lopes Dias V.S.
Publisher: Kluwer Law International
ISBN: 9789041158758
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This book explores tax arbitrage opportunities resulting from financial engineering techniques with cross-border financial instruments such as hybrids, synthetics, and non-traditional financial instruments. Firstly the author clarifies the concept of three kinds of complex financial instruments, and thereafter he discusses the most adequate tax treatment of these instruments in cross-border situations. For this purpose he identifies economic substance as an objective benchmark for the taxation of financial instruments to achieve greater international tax neutrality, and examines the role of the expected return taxation theory. The book also contains a comparative analysis of relevant developments in a number of jurisdictions, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Luxembourg, Portugal, UK and USA.

Author: Mindy Herzfeld
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 9403528915
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 435

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Book Description
Structuring Cross-Border Transactions: U.S. Tax Considerations The U.S. international tax provisions that impact cross-border transactions are far-reaching. In recent years, the rules have become more complex, less systematic, and more difficult to make sense of. In this helpful book, a well-known author and practitioner demystifies many of the structuring questions implicated in inbound and outbound cross-border investments, acquisitions, and joint ventures, exposing traps and planning opportunities and showing how the rules really operate in specific fact patterns. All key aspects of structuring a cross-border transaction are analyzed, including: anti-deferral regimes (subpart F and global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI)); how check-the-box (CTB) regulations can maximize tax benefits and minimize tax inefficiencies; how the indirect foreign tax credit provides opportunities for tax beneficial planning; U.S. tax-free reorganization rules as they apply in the cross-border area; U.S. anti-inversion rules that affect cross-border deals; effect of anti-hybrid rules; concerns of particular classes of investors that will influence the form of a transaction; and typical points of friction between buyers and sellers in the cross-border context. Detailed examples, with financial metrics included, help guide decision making at every step and assist in the understanding of key drivers materially impacting results. Treaty considerations and implications are discussed throughout. This book fills a big gap in the tax literature by providing a guide for practitioners from any country who need to understand the U.S. tax consequences of a particular transaction. Its focus on how U.S. tax law affects the ways in which transactions are put together in the real world, and its in-depth analysis of how U.S. tax provisions interrelate and interact with foreign tax rules will prove of immeasurable value to corporate lawyers, finance professionals, and others active in cross-border mergers and acquisitions. It will become an indispensable reference tool for transactional tax practitioners.

Author: Andreas Oestreicher
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 3319004492
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 170

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Book Description
The Fund Reporting Cloud® has made tax reporting less complex, but comparing the effective tax treatment of investment funds and their investors in an international environment is still an ambitious task. Against this background, this study examines the tax consequences at fund, asset, and investor level. In geographical terms our comparison covers eleven European countries, the USA, and Japan. Our analysis of the relevant tax provisions, which is of a primarily qualitative nature, is complemented by a quantitative comparison of the tax burden for a model investor investing assets nationally in the form of a collective investment. It will be of interest both for investors seeking tax advantages and for governments to check whether there is a need for tax reforms. It also ties in perfectly with the current evaluations at OECD level in the context of TRACE.

Author: Amar Mehta
Publisher: IBFD
ISBN: 9076078718
Category : Corporations, Foreign
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
This book discusses the practical issues faced by the banks, financial institutions, companies engaging in leasing as a form of asset financing, and their tax advisers. The book elaborately deals with the divergent tax treatment in the five most important leasing jurisdictions (ie, US, Japan, Germany, UK and Netherlands) in respect of transaction characterization, depreciation, income-recognition and anti-avoidance rules, as well as divergence in the relevant bilateral tax treaty provisions. Further, the book investigates how the parties to a cross-border leasing transaction may obtain tax advantages due to such divergent tax treatments, and whether and to what extent the general or specific anti-avoidance rules in the jurisdictions may neutralize the tax arbitrage opportunities. Finally, it examines how the framework of the EC Treaty may be relevant for cross-border leasing transactions between the EC Member States.

Author: Leopoldo Parada
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
ISBN: 940354676X
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 531

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Book Description
The topics of double non-taxation and hybrid entities have acquired particular importance in a context where transformations in the tax world have led to international commitments materialised in the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. In what is the first systematic in-depth analysis of the OECD BEPS Action Plan 2 and hybrid entities, this timely book provides a critical review of the approach adopted by the OECD and proposes a deeply informed alternative method to deal with the problem of hybrid entity mismatches. The author analyses the interaction between the double non-taxation outcome and the use of hybrid entities in an approach not strictly linked to any specific tax jurisdiction. To this end, the analysis includes case studies and examples from a range of jurisdictions emphasising the international tax context, also including the application of tax treaties. Among the seminal matters covered in this edition are the following: foundations of the concepts of double non-taxation and hybrid entities; extensive analysis based on the rules of characterisation of foreign entities for tax purposes in the United States, Spain, Denmark, and Germany, as well as on the Poland/United States and Canada/United States tax treaties; in-depth analysis of the implications of Article 1(2) OECD Model Tax Convention and Article 3(1) Multilateral Instrument (MLI), especially considering the position of developing (source) countries; detailed analysis of the OECD BEPS Action 2 and its recommendations (linking rules), including its implementation in the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD); and elaborated alternative method to deal with hybrid entity mismatches (reactive coordination rule), which is informed by the tax policy aims of simplicity, coherence, and administrability. Detailed comparisons between the author’s proposal and other existing rules elucidate common points and deviations. If merely for its unparalleled clarification of the issues, this book will prove of immeasurable value to practitioners, tax authorities, policymakers and academics concerned with international tax law. Beyond that, as an authoritative guide that promises to reorient the discussion to what really matters in the debate regarding hybrid entity mismatches, this analysis elaborates solutions applicable to a generality of cases worldwide and, therefore, hugely promotes the urgent quest for alternative views.