Tax treaty series

International Tax Quiz (ITQ)

Abbreviations and acronyms

* [YEAR]OECD = OECD model double tax treaty
* [YEAR]UN = UN model double tax treaty
* [YEAR]USMODEL = US model double tax treaty
* TPG = OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines
* POEM = Place of effective management
* MLI = BEPS Multilateral Instrument
* PPT = Principal purpose test
* Comm = Commentary
* AOA = Authorised OECD Approach
* POAC = Preparatory or auxiliary character

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Numbering system

There are currently more than 240 ITQs. They are arranged in 2 series:

GloBE rules series (ITQ G-001, ITQ G-002, etc.)
Tax treaty series (ITQ T-001, ITQ T-002, etc.)

ITQ T-

033

Key issues:

2011UN
PE
Art. 5(1)
Art. 5(4)(a) & (b)
VAT registration
Art. 5(5)(b)
Art. 7(1)

Date Uploaded:

February 28, 2020

ITQ T-

031

Key issues:

2011UN
PE
Art. 5(3)(b)
“furnishing of services”: counting days
Art. 5(1)

Date Uploaded:

February 14, 2020

ITQ T-

029

Key issues:

2014OECD
MLI not applicable
PE
Warehouse
Art. 5(1)
Art. 5(4)(a) & (b)
Storage, display or delivery
Implicit POAC condition?
Jacques Sasseville, chapter 1 of “New Trends in the Definition of Permanent Establishment”

Date Uploaded:

January 31, 2020

ITQ T-

027

Key issues:

2014OECD
Real estate investment business
Acquisition and sale (at profit) of call option to purchase land in B
Art. 13(1)
Is option “immovable property”?
Defn of “immovable property”, Art. 6(2)
Is option “situated in” B?
“In the money” call option

Date Uploaded:

January 10, 2020

ITQ T-

025

Key issues:

Characterisation of foreign entity
Characterisation of security
Similarity approach
OECD Report on Partnerships (1999)

Date Uploaded:

December 13, 2019

ITQ T-

023

Key issues:

2014OECD
Television content and broadcasting business
Satellite, footprint
Geostationary orbit over B, transmits signals to ground stations
PE, Art. 5(1)
Karman line
At the disposal

Date Uploaded:

November 29, 2019

ITQ T-

032

Key issues:

2017OECD
PE
Art. 5(1)
Art. 5(4)(f): POAC
Art. 5(5)

Date Uploaded:

February 21, 2020

ITQ T-

030

Key issues:

2010OECD
Procurement office of XCo
PE
5(1)
5(4)(d)
Meaning of “purchasing”
Are identification of potential suppliers and due diligence part of “purchasing”?
“solely”
Procurement services performed for XSub: XCo has PE (failure of “solely”) – but no profits attributable to PE (Art. 7(5))
XSub has PE (Art. 5(5)) – but no profits attributable to PE (Art. 7(5))

Date Uploaded:

February 7, 2020

ITQ T-

028

Key issues:

1997OECD: 1st X/Y treaty
2014OECD: 2nd X/Y treaty
Purchase of shareholding in YCo before 1st X/Y treaty signed: YCo not land-rich at time of purchase
Sale of shareholding in YCo after 2nd X/Y treaty signed: YCo land-rich at time of sale
Para. 3.1, OECD Comm on Art. 13

Date Uploaded:

January 17, 2020

ITQ T-

026

Key issues:

2014OECD
Thin capitalisation rules
Interest
Debt / equity ratio under arm’s length principle
Art. 11(2), 11(6)
Art. 24(4)
No recharacterization of interest as dividends

Date Uploaded:

December 20, 2019

ITQ T-

024

Key issues:

2014OECD
MLI: Art. 6(1), Art. 7(1) applicable; Art. 8(1) not applicable
PPT, principal purposes test
Example E in BEPS Action 6 Final Report
Dividends
25% of capital
Acquisition of 1%, to qualify for lower dividend withholding tax rate

Date Uploaded:

December 6, 2019

ITQ T-

022

Key issues:

2014OECD
PE, Art. 5(1), Art. 5(3), measurement of time of site or project
Phases of construction
Temporary interruption
Swedish Supreme Administrative Court case
Jerome Monsenego, “The Construction PE and Temporary Interruptions: Questions Based on a Swedish Case”

Date Uploaded:

November 22, 2019