Events

How Would the UN Framework Tax Convention Work in Practice?

Case Studies on Planning and Policy in the Wake of the Convention

Early commentary on the draft UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (“FTC”), which is expected to be finalized next year, has understandably focused on its historic significance and its implications for global tax governance, but its real world consequences remain much less explored. As negotiations on the draft FTC have passed another milestone, we turn to the question what will it actually change for tax authorities, taxpayers and their advisers. What will actually change for tax authorities, taxpayers, and their advisers.

In this practical webinar, international tax law expert Edwin Vanderbruggen moves beyond the policy debate to examine how the FTC could operate in practice. Using practical examples and case studies, he explores how the emerging framework could interact with existing tax treaties, BEPS Pillar Two currently under consideration, and the Mutual Administrative Assistance Convention, as well as its impact on international tax disputes, taking into account the options for the final text and UN negotiating positions.
Can taxation without a permanent establishment automatically become the new norm? Will multinational groups need to reassess existing transfer pricing structures? How might concepts such as “economic contribution” affect the allocation of taxing rights? What obligations could the FTC and its protocols actually impose on states—and, indirectly, on taxpayers? Or are the FTC’s key elements too abstract to have much practical import?

Highlights

• Existing and future DTAs: Case studies showing how the FTC could affect existing and future DTAs, including the different scenarios that still lie ahead in the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee debates.
• Remote and digital services: Practical examples of potential disputes over the taxation of digital and remote services once the FTC and its protocols come into force.
• Economic contribution: What could this concept actually mean in practice? Examples of allocating value among markets, consumers and data, and how these approaches compare with the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
• Tax and sustainable development: What are the practical implications of the commitment to an “international tax system for sustainable development”?
• Obligations affecting taxpayers: If the FTC were adopted in its current form, what obligations would actually arise for its parties, and which of these could affect taxpayers directly?
• Tax disputes: Does the tax dispute protocol create new obligations for states? If so, what exactly are they? Case studies on how they could affect current international tax disputes.
• Special concerns for airlines, shipping companies, digital service providers, and other international businesses.

How to Register and Attend

Registration is free of charge for Andersen clients and invitees.

Send your information (name, position, company, email, contact number) to Kathryn Ortega (kathryn.ortega@kh.Andersen.com) for registration.

Presenter

Edwin Vanderbrugen

Senior Partner

Andersen in Cambodia/Vietnam

Edwin has more than 25 years’ experience advising governments, international institutions and multinational enterprises on cross-border taxation, double taxation agreements and national tax policy. He has lectured on international taxation at universities in Europe and Asia and publishes regularly in leading academic journals. His monograph on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, published by Springer, is the first book-length study of the Convention.