An Assessment of Global Formula Apportionment

An Assessment of Global Formula Apportionment
Author: Ruud A. de Mooij
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2019-10-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513516256

Formula apportionment as a way to attribute taxable profits of multinationals across jurisdictions is receiving increased attention. This paper reviews existing literature and discusses experiences in selective federal states to evaluate the economic properties of formula apportionment relative to the current international tax regime that is based on separate accounting. It highlights major advantages, such as the elimination of profit shifting within multinational groups; and it discusses new distortions and the impact on tax competition. The analysis exploits different datasets to assess the direct revenue implications for individual countries under alternative formulas. The distributional effects across countries are found to be large, reflecting major discrepancies between where profits are currently attributed and where factors of production are located or sales take place. The largest losses appear in investment hubs (i.e. countries with a disproportionate ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP), while several large advanced countries are likely to gain. Developing countries gain most likely if employment receives a large weight in the formula; they also tend to benefit, on average, from a formula based on sales by destination.

An Assessment of Global Formula Apportionment

An Assessment of Global Formula Apportionment
Author: Ruud A. de Mooij
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 41
Release: 2019-10-11
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513517201

Formula apportionment as a way to attribute taxable profits of multinationals across jurisdictions is receiving increased attention. This paper reviews existing literature and discusses experiences in selective federal states to evaluate the economic properties of formula apportionment relative to the current international tax regime that is based on separate accounting. It highlights major advantages, such as the elimination of profit shifting within multinational groups; and it discusses new distortions and the impact on tax competition. The analysis exploits different datasets to assess the direct revenue implications for individual countries under alternative formulas. The distributional effects across countries are found to be large, reflecting major discrepancies between where profits are currently attributed and where factors of production are located or sales take place. The largest losses appear in investment hubs (i.e. countries with a disproportionate ratio of foreign direct investment to GDP), while several large advanced countries are likely to gain. Developing countries gain most likely if employment receives a large weight in the formula; they also tend to benefit, on average, from a formula based on sales by destination.

Corporate Income Taxes under Pressure

Corporate Income Taxes under Pressure
Author: Ruud A. de Mooij
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2021-02-26
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1513511777

The book describes the difficulties of the current international corporate income tax system. It starts by describing its origins and how changes, such as the development of multinational enterprises and digitalization have created fundamental problems, not foreseen at its inception. These include tax competition—as governments try to attract tax bases through low tax rates or incentives, and profit shifting, as companies avoid tax by reporting profits in jurisdictions with lower tax rates. The book then discusses solutions, including both evolutionary changes to the current system and fundamental reform options. It covers both reform efforts already under way, for example under the Inclusive Framework at the OECD, and potential radical reform ideas developed by academics.

CCCTB

CCCTB
Author: Dennis Weber
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 441
Release: 2012-05-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9041140697

The European Commission’s proposed Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) is the most ambitious project in the history of direct taxation within the EU. While retaining the right of Member States to set their own corporate tax rate, the proposed system allows for a ‘one-stop shop’ for filing tax returns and consolidating prof its and losses across the EU. In this book – the first to offer guidance to practitioners whose work will be affected by these new developments – 19 prominent representatives of the business community, tax consultancy, academic taxation scholarship and tax administration discuss the proposed system’s rationale, structure and uncertainties, ranging from very technical aspects, to the wording of the proposal, to political considerations. These topics include the following: eligibility; formation of a group; the concept of ‘permanent establishment’; foreign tax credits; ‘dual resident’ companies; consequences of entering and leaving; depreciation of fixed assets; repackaged asset transfers; appeals procedure; disagreements among Member States; subsidiarity and the ‘yellow card procedure’; international aspects and tax treaties; sharing mechanism and transfer pricing; and anti-abuse rules. The discussion raises numerous issues likely to lead to future amendments, and for this reason, along with its practical value in developing an understanding of the proposed system’s specific effects, the book will be welcomed by tax consultants and lawyers worldwide, corporate tax advisers, European tax authorities and tax researchers and academics.

The Allocation of Multinational Business Income: Reassessing the Formulary Apportionment Option

The Allocation of Multinational Business Income: Reassessing the Formulary Apportionment Option
Author: Richard Krever
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2020-02-20
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403506156

The Allocation of Multinational Business Income: Reassessing the Formulary Apportionment Option Edited by Richard Krever & François Vaillancourt Although arm’s length methodology continues to prevail in international taxation policy, it has long been replaced by the formulary apportionment method at the subnational level in a few federal countries. Its use is planned for international profit allocation as an element of the European Union’s CCCTB proposals. In this timely book – a global guide to formulary apportionment, both as it exists in practice and how it might function internationally – a knowledgeable group of contributors from Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States, address this actively debated topic, both in respect of its technical aspects and its promise as a global response to the avoidance, distortions, and unfairness of current allocation systems. Drawing on a wealth of literature considering formulary apportionment in the international sphere and considering decades of experience with the system in the states and provinces of the United States and Canada, the contributors explicate and examine such pertinent issues as the following: the debate about what factors should be used to allocate profits under a formulary apportionment system and experience in jurisdictions using formulary apportionment; application of formulary apportionment in specific sectors such as digital enterprises and the banking industry; the political economy of establishing and maintaining a successful formulary apportionment regime; formulary apportionment proposals for Europe; the role of traditional tax criteria such as economic efficiency, fairness, ease of administration, and robustness to avoidance and incentive compatibility; determining which parts of a multinational group are included in a formulary apportionment unit; and whether innovative profit-split methodologies such as those developed by China are shifting traditional arm’s length methods to a quasi-formulary apportionment system. Providing a comprehensive understanding of all aspects of the formulary apportionment option, this state of the art summary of history, current practice, proposals and prospects in the ongoing debate over arm’s length versus formulary apportionment methodologies will be welcomed by practitioners, policy-makers, and academics concerned with international taxation, all of whom will gain an understanding of the case put forward by proponents for adoption of formulary apportionment in Europe and globally and the counter-arguments they face. Readers will acquire a better understanding of the implications of formulary apportionment and its central role in the current debate about the future of international taxation rules. “...providing (sic) all the intellectual ammunition needed to carefully re-examine one of the ideas traditionally considered as apocryphal by the OECD and to a significant portion of the tax professional community...readers of this book will come away not only with a renewed understanding of the multiple facets of formulary apportionment, but also of some of the fundamental pressure points in the international tax system. Accordingly, it is a welcome and timely addition to the literature. ” Dr. Stjepan Gadžo, Assistant Professor at University of Rijeka, Faculty of Law / British Tax Review 2021, Issue 2, p243-246

The Role of Allocation in a Globalized Corporate Income Tax

The Role of Allocation in a Globalized Corporate Income Tax
Author: Mr.Jack M. Mintz
Publisher: International Monetary Fund
Total Pages: 40
Release: 1998-09-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1451855575

The internationalization of business activity has created significant pressures on national corporate tax systems. Rather than abandon the corporate tax field, this paper predicts that governments will develop arrangements to further globalize the corporate income tax. The paper assesses the merits and limitations of allocation methods for attributing income to different jurisdictions according to formulas measuring business activity. Such methods are being used as part of transfer pricing regimes and are likely to be enhanced over time. Whatever international arrangements develop in the future, there is a role for new institutions to improve cooperative discussions among governments.

Selectivity in State Aid Law and the Methods for the Allocation of the Corporate Tax Base

Selectivity in State Aid Law and the Methods for the Allocation of the Corporate Tax Base
Author: Jérôme Monsenego
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 332
Release: 2018-06-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9041194142

High profile cases before the European Commission and the EU courts have intensified scrutiny of the link between State aid law and the taxation of multinational enterprises. Certain decisions have raised questions about fiscal sovereignty and the interpretation of the rules on State aid – in particular the notion of selectivity, which have not been addressed in detail by existing research. The combination of the evolution of the notion of selectivity in State aid law, on the one hand, and the need to adapt the rules for the taxation of the profits of multinational enterprises to the modern economy, on the other hand, makes it necessary to assess whether existing as well as alternative rules for the allocation of the corporate tax base might entail a selective treatment. This book responds to the need of research in the area of State aid law applied to the taxation of the income of multinational enterprises, focusing on the crucial concept of selectivity. The analysis proceeds with a detailed investigation of the theoretical issues that arise when applying the selectivity test in State aid law to three methods for the allocation of the corporate tax base between the members of multinational enterprises: – the arm’s length principle; – transfer pricing safe harbours; and – systems of formula apportionment. This research project is conducted at a theoretical level, without considering national provisions or particular tax treaties. The author suggests an analytical framework on the application of the selectivity test to the three allocation methods. It is concluded that these methods are likely to have certain selective features, with varying possibilities to be justified by the inner logic of a corporate income tax system. It is also demonstrated that selectivity occurs for different reasons, due to the different rationales of the three allocation methods. This book is intended at contributing to the academic literature on the impact of State aid law on the principles for the taxation of the income of multinational enterprises. The outcome of this research project is also relevant for lawmakers who need to reconcile the imperatives of State aid law with the design of rules that match their tax policies, as well as for judges or lawyers who apply the rules on State aid to tax provisions.

Formulary Apportionment for the Internal Market

Formulary Apportionment for the Internal Market
Author: Stefan Mayer
Publisher: IBFD
Total Pages: 355
Release: 2009
Genre: International business enterprises
ISBN: 9087220480

Since its Company Tax Communication of 2001, the European Commission has been promoting a comprehensive harmonization of corporation taxes within the Internal Market on the basis of consolidation and formulary apportionment of the profits of cross-border enterprises, both in the form of a Home State Taxation (HST) and of the Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base. This study assesses whether this approach represents a viable alternative to the arm's length standard currently applied in international tax law. The study comprises four parts. First, a theoretical concept of formulary apportionment is presented, followed by an evaluation of the practical experiences of four jurisdictions (United States, Canada, Switzerland and Germany) with formulary apportionment at the subnational level. Next, a proposal for harmonization on the basis of consolidation and apportionment is developed, and the book concludes with an overall analysis of the merits and drawbacks of the proposed model for harmonization.