Scope of International tax

1.The income tax aspects of cross-border trade in goods and services

2.Cross-border manufacturing by a multinational enterprise

3.Cross-border investment by individuals or by investment funds

4.The taxation of individuals who work or do business outside the country where they usually reside

Goals of International tax rules

1.Getting its fair share of revenue from cross-border transaction

2.Promoting fairness

3.Enhancing the competitiveness of the domestic economy

4.Capital-export and capital-import neutrality

Types of international tax planning

1.Double dip leases:A leasing arrangement under which the lessor and the lessee are both able to claim the tax benefits of ownership of the leased property in their country of residence because the countries characterize the transaction differently

2.Tax haven companies:Tax havens: Countries which subject income (or some forms of income) or entities (or certain entities) to low or no taxation

3.Treaty shopping:The use of a tax treaty by a person who is not resident in either of the treaty countries ,usually through the use of a conduit entity resident in one of the countries

Tie-breaker rules

1.The place where an individual has a permanent home

2.The country in which the centre of the individual's vital interests is located

3.The place of the individual's habitual dwelling

4.The country of citizenship

Double taxation arise form conflicts

1.Source-source conflicts

2.Residence-residence conflicts

3.Residence-source conflicts

Relief Mechanisms消除双重征税的方法

1.Deduction method

2.Exemption method

3.Credit method

Arm's length method转让价格的公平交易法

1.Comparable uncontrolled price(CUP):Set an arm's length price by reference to sales of similar products made between unrelated persons in similar circumstances

2.Resale price method:Set an arm's length price for the sale goods between related parties by subtracting an appropriate markup from the price at which the goods are ultimately sold to unrelated parties

3.Cost plus method:Use the manufacturing and other costs of the related seller as the starting point in establishing the arm's length price.An appropriate amount of profit is added to these costs by multiplying the seller's costs by an appropriate profit percentage

4.Profit-Split Method

5.Transactional Net Margin Method and Comparable Profit Method

When a multinational group of corporations is engaged in the manufacture and sale of products that embody valuable intangible property,it is likely to earn substantial entrepreneurial profits.The CUP method generally cannot be applied when the goods sold embody valuable intangible property because the goods sold are likely to be unique,however,the conditions required for applying the resale price method or the cost plus method will be met.

Formulary Apportionment and the Future of the firm's length method

The alternative to the arm's length approach,favoured by some commentators,is a unitary approach or a global formulary apportionment system.In a formulary apportionment system,affiliated entities engaged in a common enterprise are taxed as if they were a single corporation.The worldwide income of the enterprise is attributed by a predetermined formula among all of the countries where the enterprise engages in meaningful economic activity.Assuming that all countries could agree on the use of this system and could also agree on a reasonably uniform definition of taxable income,multinational corporations would be taxable once and only once on their worldwide income.

It directly addresses issues of inter-nation equity,thereby allowing weaker and smaller countries to obtain their fair share of tax revenue,and it reduces substantially the risks of harmful tax competition among trading partners.It also avoids some of the difficult audit problems that frequently arise under the arm's length approach.

Objectives of tax treaties

To facilitate cross-border trade and investment by eliminating the tax impediments to these cross-border flows.

1.The elimination of double taxation

2.The prevention of fiscal evasion

3.The elimination of discrimination against foreign nationals and nonresidents

4.The exchange of information between the Contracting States

The effect of tax treaties is to provide certainty for taxpayers

Limited force-of attraction principle

If an enterprise has a PE in a Contracting State,it is taxable not only on the income earned through that PE but also on income derived in that state from the sale of products similar to those sold through the PE or from business activities similar to those activities conducted through the PE.

Capital-export neutrality:The situation in which resident investors bear the same tax burden whether they invest at home or abroad

Capital-import neutrality:The situation in which resident investors bear the same tax burden as other investors in that country

Contracting states:The countries that are parties to a tax treaty

Credit method:Foreign taxes paid by a resident of a country are credited against the residence country's tax on the resident's foreign-source income

Cross-border transactions:Transactions that have potential tax consequences in more than one country

Deduction method:Foreign taxes paid by a resident of a country are deductible in computing the resident's taxable income in the resident country

Double-dip lease:A leasing arrangement under which the lessor and the lessee are both able to claim the tax benefits of ownership of the leased property in their country of residence because the countries characterize the transaction differently

Dual-resident taxpayer:A taxpayer who is a tax resident of two or more countries for the same tax year

Exemption method:Exemption from domestic tax of some or all foreign-source income derived by residents

Exemption with progression:An exemption method under which certain foreign-source income is exempt from tax but is taken into account in determining the rate of tax applicable to other income

Foreign affiliate:A foreign corporation in which a domestic taxpayer has a significant direct or indirect ownership interest(10% or more of the shares)

Foreign tax credit:A provision that permits domestic tax otherwise payable to be reduced by foreign-source income

Inter-nation equity:A concept requiring a fair sharing of the tax revenue derived from taxation of transnational income between capital-importing and capital-exporting countries

International double taxation:The imposition of income tax by two or more countries on the same income for the same taxable period

Harmful tax competition:Tax practices under attack by the OECD that are adopted by a tax-haven country to poach on the tax base of other countries by exploiting the inevitable weakness in the international tax rules of those countries

Hybrid entity:An entity that is treated as a separate taxable entity (usually as a corporation) in one country and as a transparent or flow-through entity (often as a partnership) in another country Limited liability company(LLC):An entity that is treated as transparent under the tax laws of a country but which provides the investors in the entity with limited liability under the general laws of that country

Most-favoured-nation treatment:The treatment by one country of the residents or citizens of another country not less favourably than the treatment of the residents or citizens of any other country (but not its own residents or citizens)

National treatment:The treatment of nonresidents or foreigners by a country not less favourably than the treatment of its own residents or citizens

Neutrality:A tax is neutral if its imposition does not alter the economic decisions that would be taken in its absence

Nondiscrimination:A generally-accepted notion that a country should tax nonresidents,foreigners and foreign-owned domestic corporations in a manner that is the same as or is functionally equivalent to the treatment afforded to residents,citizens or domesti-cally-owned corporations in similar circumstances

Nonresident:A person who does not have sufficient connections with a country to be liable to tax there on worldwide income and who is taxable only on income from sources in that country OECD:Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

OECD Model Treaty:A model income tax treaty sponsored by the OECD on which virtually all bilateral income tax treaties are patterned

Parent corporation:A corporation that controls another corporation(referred to as a subsidiary) Permanent establishment(PE):A concept used to determine when an enterprise has sufficient connection with a country to subject it to tax on its income attributable to the PE

Related persons:include 2 or more persons that are owned or controlled,directly or indirectly,by the same interests.

Residence country:The country in which the owner of a foreign investment is resident for income purposes

Residence jurisdiction:A principle of taxation under which all income accruing to residents of a country,regardless of its source,is subject to tax by that country

Resident:A person who has sufficiently close connections to a country to be liable to tax by that country

Source country:The country where a foreign investment is located or where income arises

Source jurisdiction:A principle of taxation under which residents and nonresidents alike are taxed on income from economic activity within a particular country

Subsidiary:A corporation that is directly controlled by another corporation.A foreign subsidiary of a corporation is a corporation resident outside the country of residence of the controlling corporation

the legal international double taxation：the imposition comparable taxes by two or more sovereign countries on the same item of income of the same taxable person for the some taxable period

the economic international double taxation: there is multiple taxation of the same items of economic income

Transfer price:A price set by a taxpayer when selling to,buying from,or sharing resources with a related person.

Tax avoidance:The deferral,avoidance,or reduction of tax by lawful means

Tax evasion:The reduction of tax by illegal means,usually involving fraudulent nondisclosure or willful deceit

Tax treaties:confer rights and impose obligations on the contracting state

Tax havens:Countries which subject income (or some forms of income)or entities(or certain entites)to low or no taxation

Tax sparing:The allowance of a credit for the amount of foreign taxes that were not paid because

of a tax incentive or holiday in the foreign country

Transfer pricing rules:Rules that limit the ability of related parties to set prices on transfers of property or services that are different from the prices that would be set in similar transfers involving unrelated parties

Treaty shopping:The use of a tax treaty by a person who is not resident in either of the treaty countries,usually through the use of a conduit entity resident in one of the countries

UN Model Treaty:A model income tax treaty sponsored by the United Nations that is based on the OECD Model Treaty.with some modifications made to reflect the interests of developing countries

Withholding tax:A tax levied by the source country at a flat rate on the gross amount of dividends,royalties,interest,or other payments made by residents to nonresidents.The tax is collected and paid to the government by the resident payer.