Exemption vs. Credit Method in International Double Taxation Treaties

This paper examines the choice of international double taxation relief methods by two small countries that mutually exchange foreign direct investment. At the first stage, each country chooses between the exemption and the credit method (as prescribed by the OECD model treaty) and at the second stage, each country sets nationally optimal non-discriminatory capital tax rates. It is shown that in the subgame perfect equilibrium both countries choose the exemption method. Mutual application of the exemption method is also shown to yield the highest welfare for each country. While the tax export effect generally induces both countries to choose inefficiently high tax rates, this effect is weakest when both countries exempt foreign earned profits from domestic taxation.     

Residence-Based Capital Taxation in a Small Open Economy: Why Information is Voluntarily Exchanged and Why it is Not

The issue of capital tax competition is viewed to be unproblematic if residence-based capital-taxation exists. However, the sustainability of residence-based capital taxation depends on the exchange of information about foreign financial investments between tax authorities. This paper analyzes the incentives of tax authorities to voluntarily provide information. We show that voluntary information exchange is an equilibrium in a standard small-country model of tax competition, whereas it may not be an equilibrium when the size of the financial sector has a positive impact on the wage structure of an economy.     

Incentives and Information Exchange in International Taxation

The exchange of taxpayer-specific information between national tax authorities has recently emerged as a key and controversial topic in international tax policy discussions, most notably with the OECD's harmful tax practices project and the EU's savings tax initiative. This paper analyzes the effects of information exchange and withholding taxes, recognizing that countries which agree to exchange information do not forfeit the ability to levy withholding taxes, and also focusing in particular on the effects of innovative revenue-sharing arrangements. Amongst the findings are that: (i) the transfer of withholding tax receipts to the residence country, as planned in the European Union, has no effect on equilibrium tax rates, but acts purely as a lump-sum transfer; (ii) in contrast, allocating some of the revenue from information exchange to the source country—counter to usual practice (though no less so than the EU agreement)—would have adverse strategic effects on total revenue; (iii) nevertheless, any withholding tax regime is Pareto dominated by information exchange combined with appropriate revenue sharing; and, in particular, (iv) sharing of the additional revenues raised from information provided, while efficiency-reducing, could be in the interests of large countries as a means of persuading small countries to provide that information voluntarily. JEL Code: H77, H87, F42     

论双边税收协定中合伙人来自合伙企业所得的定性与课税

在适用双边税收协定时,因各国给与合伙企业的税收待遇不同,从而导致对合伙企业及其合伙人所得定性的冲突,产生双重征税或不征税。因此,当合伙企业在坐落国被视为纳税实体,而在合伙人居住国被视为纳税虚体时,应从税收协定出发考察合伙关系,并结合缔约国有关国内规定对利润、分红及特别报酬的定性予以分析,以避免上述问题。     

国际税收协定与反避税

税收协定除对所得消除双重征税外,还有防止偷逃税(“财政逃避”)的重要目的。税收协定和反避税之间的关系十分紧密,反避税是税收协定的一个重要内容,是各国谈签协定的主旨之一。本文从反避税角度对协定中可能出现的协定滥用和避税问题进行了列举,并提出适时修订协定、完善国内法规、有效打击跨国偷逃税活动的建议。     

增值税征税范围的国际比较与思考

本文通过对国际上实施增值税国家的增值税征税范围的比较分析 ,指出我国现行增值税在征税范围上存在的对于农业和劳务处理方面的问题。提出借鉴外国增值税转型经验改革我国增值税制在征税范围上的规定 ,以完善我国增值税制度     

Tax Treaties and Foreign Direct Investment: Potential versus Performance

Bilateral tax treaties are an important method of international tax cooperation. I survey the existing literature on these agreements, highlighting the differences between the standard view that treaties increase foreign direct investment and the empirical evidence that finds little support for this. I also discuss the key differences in treaty formation between developed countries relative to that between developed and developing nations.     

税制结构演变的国际经验与中国展望

税制结构的演变受到经济因素、政府政策目标、国家和社会关系的影响和约束,具有普遍的规律性。考察世界各国税制结构的演变历程可以发现,发达国家税制结构和税种结构均比较稳定,直接税占比高但税种分散,货物与劳务税仍为最大的单一税种;发展中国家税制结构相对稳定但税种结构呈趋势性变化,个人所得税和企业所得税均稳中有升。个人所得税和社会保障缴款是国家间税制结构差异的主要来源,企业所得税负担的国际竞争面临深刻变化。当前我国已基本形成了双主体税制结构,直接税收入中所得类税收、企业主体税收占比较高。鉴于此,我国应在强化均贫富、促消费的目标下,提高个人所得税比重、完善财产税制度、加强自然人税源管理;在新经济增长模式下,对增值税进行适应性调整和税负优化。     

税收优惠因抵免制而失效?——基于美国对华直接投资的研究

在国际直接投资研究领域,人们普遍认为,当母国对来源于外国的所得实行抵免制以避免国际重复课税时,东道国对外资企业的税收优惠往往转化为母国政府的财政收入,母国的投资者无法获得东道国给予的税收优惠.通过对1990～2004年实行抵克制的美国及实行豁免制和饶让抵免制的其它西方发达国家在华直接投资进行比较,未发现美国与其它西方发达国家在华直接投资的积极性存在显著差异.由于美国对该国投资者给予税收递延,使得投资者依然能够获得东道国的税收优惠,美国实行的抵免制并未阻碍该国投资者的在华投资热情.     

The “flat tax(es)”: principles and experience

This paper reviews experience with the ‘flat taxes’ that have been adopted in many countries in recent years. It stresses that they differ fundamentally, and that empirical evidence on their effects is very limited. This precludes simple generalization, but several lessons emerge: there is no sign of Laffer-type behavioral responses generating revenue increases from the tax cut elements of these reforms; their impact on compliance is theoretically ambiguous, but there is evidence for Russia that compliance did improve; the distributional effects of the flat taxes are not unambiguously regressive, and in some cases, they may have increased progressivity (including through the impact on compliance); adoption of the flat tax has not resolved common challenges in taxing capital income; and it may have strengthened, not weakened, the automatic stabilizers. A key reason for adoption of the flat tax seems to have been to signal a fundamental shift toward a market-oriented policy regime. Looking forward, as the value of the signal diminishes and familiar political economy forces reassert themselves, the question is not so much whether more countries will adopt a flat tax as whether those that have will move away from it.      

浅析合伙企业在税收协定中的"缔约国居民"之身份

合伙企业是否为“缔约国居民”对税收协定的适用有重要影响。一般来说,合伙企业属于协定意义上的“人”,但并不意味着同时也属于“缔约国居民”,只有当合伙企业被视为纳税实体,对所得负有纳税义务时,才可能成为协定意义上的“缔约国居民”,此时合伙企业本身有资格享受协定优惠。如果合伙人就按份所得负有纳税义务,合伙企业被视为纳税虚体,则不是“缔约国居民”,其合伙人可以享受相关协定的优惠。     

我国应对数字服务税的内在困境与破解之道

实体经济向数字经济的转换,突破了传统税收征管实体联结度规则"壁垒"。税法领域的相关法律缺失,已不能有效解决数字经济时代线上线下税收不公的法律问题。面对数字服务领域的税收问题,世界各国采取的办法或是开征数字服务税,或是修改国内法律,又或是等待国际统一规则的制定。开征数字税的国家在纳税起征条件、税率、征税对象、"安全港"条文的豁免条款等方面存在差异,我国在应对"数字资产"所有者确定、运营商与客户之间的"互益行为"、无形资产估值等方面存在困境。面对数字税的开征,我国应从现实考量出发,转变传统实体"源头税收"观念、强化数据信息机制在税收征管领域的应用,并以国际协作的方式来应对这场数字税收领域的革命性变化。     

我国税收情报交换中存在的主要问题及建议

税收情报交换是目前跨国税收征管合作中最重要和最有效的手段之一,对发现和查处跨国偷避税行为具有不可替代的作用。本文首先介绍了我国税收情报交换工作的特点,然后对存在的问题提出了有针对性的解决方法。     

司法廉洁、安全与税收道德——以OECD国家为例

税收道德衡量的是纳税人的态度,而公众价值观调查为我们度量税收道德提供了一个独特的视角,进而能够使税收道德成为一个因变量来方便我们进行分析.通过对OECD国家的研究和分析,结果表明,税收道德与税收遵从之间正相关,而司法廉洁、安全与税收道德之间也存在显著的正相关.即腐败行为将严重损害公民的税收道德,随着严重犯罪的增加,公民的税收道德随之下降.     

国际税收情报交换:发展与困境的思考

本文回顾了国际税收情报交换各种规范和内容的发展变化,对存在的问题及原因进行了分析,指出除了情报交换的技术性障碍以外,最根本的是情报交换中政府与企业之间、主权国家之间以及国家个体和国际组织之间的利益冲突,也即情报交换存在效率与公平问题。最后,文章对如何通过创新情报交换的制度和组织形式解决上述问题提出了构想。     

资源税立法宗旨论

基于资源开发外部性补偿的假设,资源税在确保资源配置代际公平的同时,将资源的节约集约利用和可持续发展内置于税法评价体系,有助于实现生态外部成本的内部化。资源税立法应当具有明确的立法宗旨。作为统领资源税制的目的性法律条款,立法宗旨应反映资源税的立法依据,符合生态文明发展的必然要求,契合其基本职能,并为今后资源税的改革提供价值指引。资源税的立法宗旨可表达为:为了节约和合理开发资源,促进可持续发展,推进生态文明建设,制定本法。     

With which countries do tax havens share information?

In recent years tax havens and offshore financial centres have come under increasing political pressure to cooperate with other countries in matters of taxation and efforts to crowd back tax evasion and avoidance. As a result many tax havens have signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs). In order to comply with OECD standards tax havens are obliged to sign at least 12 TIEAs with other countries. This paper investigates how tax havens have chosen their partner countries. We ask whether they have signed TIEAs with countries to which they have strong economic links or whether they have systematically avoided doing this, so that information exchange remains ineffective. We analyse 565 TIEAs signed by tax havens in the years 2008–2011 and find that on average tax havens have signed more TIEAs with countries to which they have stronger economic links. Our analysis thus suggests that tax havens do not systematically undermine tax information exchange by signing TIEAs with irrelevant countries. However, this does not mean that they exchange information with all important partner countries.     

Tax treaty shopping: structural determinants of Foreign Direct Investment routed through the Netherlands

Many multinationals divert Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) through conduit countries that have a favorable tax treaty network, to avoid host country withholding taxes. This is referred to as tax treaty shopping. The Netherlands is the world’s largest conduit country; in 2009, multinationals held approximately €1,600 billion of FDI via the Netherlands. This paper uses microdata from Dutch Special Purpose Entities to analyze geographical patterns and structural determinants of FDI diversion. Regression analysis confirms that tax treaties are a key determinant of FDI routed through the Netherlands. The effect of tax treaties on FDI diversion partly arises from the reduction of dividend withholding tax rates, which provides strong evidence for tax treaty shopping.     

From the global income tax to the dual income tax: Recent tax reforms in the Nordic countries

The paper discusses the recent drive toward a system of dual income taxation (DIT) in the Nordic countries. The pure version of this system combines progressive taxation of labor and transfer incomes with a proportional tax on income from capital at a level equal to the corporate income tax rate. The paper considers the motives for the introduction of this new income tax system, ranging from abstract theoretical arguments to very pragmatic considerations. While the Nordic DIT system violates the principles of the conventional personal income tax, it is argued that it may in fact be more in line with the philosophy of a true Haig-Simons comprehensive income tax. It is also suggested that the DIT system may cause fewer distortions to resource allocation than the conventional income tax. On the debit side, the paper points out several practical problems of taxing income from small enterprises under the differentiated income tax.     

Corporate tax avoidance: is tax transparency the solution?

Corporate tax avoidance has been a matter of considerable public attention, particularly since the 2008 global financial crisis. The nature of calls for tax reform and increased regulation, advocated most prominently by tax activists and NGOs, has revolved around transparency as a possible corrective to unacceptable tax avoidance, although there is no consensus as to what the term tax avoidance encompasses and when it becomes unacceptable. We examine two responses to calls for increased transparency about the tax affairs of multinational entities: firstly, country by country reporting that provides information to tax authorities, and secondly the UK requirement for publication of tax strategies, whereby large companies put information into the public domain. We find considerable misunderstanding about the benefits of transparency in this setting. By failing to consider the limits of transparency initiatives there is a risk of dysfunctional consequences, for example additional costs in providing and processing additional information, the prospect of increased disputes as new information generates new misinterpretations and uncertainty in determining the final tax position. There is a risk that greater disclosure will not effectively address concerns about unacceptable corporate tax avoidance.