Hybrid finance in the double tax treaties

Hybrid finance in the double tax treaties
Author: Martin Alexander Six
Publisher:
Total Pages: 13
Release: 2007
Genre:
ISBN:

The compartmentalisation of company finance into equity and debt does not truly capture the enormous diversity of financial instruments available. A wide variety of hybrid instruments incorporate elements of both equity and debt. From a fiscal point of view the classification of such hybrid instruments as equity or debt is crucial for two reasons. First of all, the issuer can treat interest on the latter as tax-deductible in most cases, and secondly, for the investor the classification determines whether the payments received from the respective instrument is treated as a dividend or as interest. One important question in this context is how hybrid instruments are treated in the tax treaty between the source state and the residence state. It is the aim of this paper, to show how the yield on hybrid financial instruments can or must be qualified as either dividend or interest in the double tax treaties, irrespective of the treatment in contracting states. (author's abstract).

Hybrid Financial Instruments, Double Non-Taxation and Linking Rules

Hybrid Financial Instruments, Double Non-Taxation and Linking Rules
Author: Félix Daniel Martínez Laguna
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 668
Release: 2019-06-12
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9403510846

Hybrid Financial Instruments, Double Non-taxation and Linking Rules Félix Daniel Martínez Laguna Hybrid financial instruments (HFIs) are widespread ordinary financial instruments that combine debt and equity features in their terms and design and may lead to double non-taxation across borders. This important book provides a deeply informed and critical analysis and guide to the “linking rules” developed to combat double non-taxation stemming from HFIs within the framework of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the anti-avoidance initiatives of the European Union (EU). These complex rules have now become essential in international taxation. The book deals incisively with crucial theoretical and practical issues as the following: Economic and legal reasons for financing business activity through debt instruments, equity instruments and/or HFIs. Qualification of financial instruments from different perspectives such as economics, corporate finance, corporate law, financial accounting law, regulatory law and tax law and their interrelation. The concept of double non-taxation as a mere outcome of parallel exercises of sovereignty by different states and the role it plays within the international debate. The concepts of tax planning, tax avoidance and the misleading concept of aggressive tax planning within a tax competition international scenario and their relation with HFIs. Comprehensive policy, legal and technical detail and explanation of the linking rules proposed by the OECD (i.e., BEPS Project Action 2) and the EU (e.g., Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive). The (in)compatibility of linking rules with existing tax treaty rules and EU primary law. The author refers throughout to relevant model convention provisions, EU case law and a vast number of references of official documentation and literature. With its detailed attention to the concept and legal nature of HFIs and double non-taxation, the critical and comprehensive analysis of the linking rules developed by the OECD and the EU, this provocative book allows to reconsider the legality of these linking rules and will quickly become a much-used problem-solving resource for policymakers, tax practitioners, tax authorities and tax academics. This book allows to rethink whether linking rules relate to a solution or create actual legal issues.

Taxation of Hybrid Financial Instruments and the Remuneration Derived Therefrom in an International and Cross-border Context

Taxation of Hybrid Financial Instruments and the Remuneration Derived Therefrom in an International and Cross-border Context
Author: Sven-Eric Bärsch
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2012-12-13
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 3642324576

Despite the enormous diversity and complexity of financial instruments, the current taxation of hybrid financial instruments and the remuneration derived therefrom are characterized by a neat division into dividend-generating equity and interest-generating debt as well as by a coexistence of source- and residence-based taxation. This book provides a comparative analysis of the classification of hybrid financial instruments in the national tax rules currently applied by Australia, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands as well as in the relevant tax treaties and EU Directives. Moreover, based on selected hybrid financial instruments, mismatches in these tax classifications, which lead to tax planning opportunities and risks and thus are in conflict with the single tax principle, are identified. To address these issues, the author provides reform options that are in line with the dichotomous debt-equity framework, as he/she suggests the coordination of either tax classifications or tax treatments.

Hybrid Financial Instruments in International Tax Law

Hybrid Financial Instruments in International Tax Law
Author: Jakob Bundgaard
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 408
Release: 2016-11-15
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9041183183

Financial innovation allows companies and other entities that wish to raise capital to choose from a myriad of possible instruments that can be tailored to meet the specific business needs of the issuer and investor. However, such instruments put increasing pressure on a question that is fundamental to the tax and financial systems of a country – the distinction between debt and equity. Focusing on hybrid financial instruments (HFIs) – which lie somewhere along the debt-equity continuum, but where exactly depends on the terms of the instrument as well as on applicable laws – this book analyses their treatment under both domestic law and tax treaties. Key jurisdictions, including the EU, some of its Member States, and the United States, are covered. Advocating for a broader scope of application of HFIs as part of the financing of companies in Europe alongside traditional sources of debt and equity financing, the book addresses such issues and topics as the following: • problems associated with the debt-equity distinction in international tax law; • cross-border tax arbitrage and linking rules; • drivers behind the use and design of HFIs; • tax law impact of perpetual and super maturity debt instruments, profit participating loans, convertible bonds, mandatory convertible bonds, contingent convertibles, preference shares and warrant loans on HFIs; • financial accounting treatment; • administrative guidance; • influence of the TFEU on Member States’ approaches to classification of HFIs; • interpretation of the Parent-Subsidiary Directive by the European Court of Justice; • applicability of the OECD Model Tax Convention; and • implications of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. Throughout this book, the analysis draws upon preparatory works, case law, and legal theory in English, German, and the Scandinavian languages. In conclusion, the author considers tax policy issues, and identifies and outlines possible high-level solutions. Actual or potential users of HFIs will greatly appreciate the clarity and insight offered here into the capacity and tax implications of HFIs. The book not only examines whether existing legislation is sufficient to handle the issues raised by international HFIs, but also provides an in-depth analysis of the interaction between corporate financing and tax law in the light of today’s financial innovation. Corporate executives and their counsel will find it indispensable in the international taxation landscape that is currently coming into view, and academics and policymakers will hugely augment their understanding of a complex and constantly changing area of tax law.

Qualification of Hybrid Financial Instruments in Tax Treaties

Qualification of Hybrid Financial Instruments in Tax Treaties
Author: Francisco Alfredo Garcia Prats
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

The article deals with the interesting issue of the tax treaty qualification problems arising in hybrid financial instruments and structures. The need to fit the great diversity of instruments and legal, economic and accounting trends attached to them into the closed range of treaty income categories forces to analyze the basic elements of the tax treaty definitions of those categories of income, their mutual relationship, the role of the Commentaries and the effects derived from integration between the tax treaty requirements and the tax regime and qualifications of the income arising from the hybrid financial instrument. Despite the limited effects associated to the qualification of income arising from the hybrid financial instruments, the article further analyzes the effects derived from the interaction of the legal and qualification regimes of the income in the 'source' and the 'residence' contracting States, to verify what type of interaction and consequences derived and, according to those consequences, what type of measures can be applied to prevent undesired tax treaty results. In particular, the issue of the legitimate use of tax arbitrage schemes is considered and also the counteracting measures foreseen to prevent this usage and also its compatibility with tax treaty requirements.

Taxation of Cross-Border Hybrid Finance - A Legal Analysis

Taxation of Cross-Border Hybrid Finance - A Legal Analysis
Author: Eva Eberhartinger
Publisher:
Total Pages: 0
Release: 2013
Genre:
ISBN:

The neat division of company finance into equity and debt does not in reality do justice to the enormous diversity of financial instruments available. A wide variety of instruments incorporate elements of both equity and debt. Usually, these financial instruments are referred to as hybrid instruments, or mezzanine finance. Although hybrid instruments may be issued for a variety of non-tax reasons, taxation issues have a considerable impact on management's financing decisions with respect to hybrid instruments. Tax treatment of hybrid instruments varies among coutries. This may cause severe distortions to most countries efforts to ensure single taxation of the yield. The purpose of this paper is to test the effectiveness of existing measures of international tax coordination (Double Taxation Conventions, EU Directives) in the field of cross-border intragroup finance. In order to do so, the paper provides a comprehensive survey of the possible fiscal consequences of intra-group cross-border hybrid finance on the basis of a formal analysis of the relevant provisions in national, international and European tax law. The paper demonstrates that despite the various measures to prevent double taxation and ensure single taxation of remuneration of equity and debt within groups of companies, the use of hybrid instruments can still generate cases of double taxation as well as cases of double non-taxation (white income). This is a major issue for tax planning, because it implies that an enterprise with operations in a given group of countries can choose instruments that result in double non-taxation. Similarly, an enterprise with given financial needs can choose appropriate countries to establish subsidiaries so as to optimise or even entirely eliminate taxes on the payments received. For national and international legislators, this is important because it shows that existing systems for the taxation of dividends and interest on hybrid finance in many cases fail to ensure single taxation of the income received.

Institutional Hybrid Financial Instruments and Double Non-taxation Under Domestic Rules and Tax Treaty Law : the Example of Spain

Institutional Hybrid Financial Instruments and Double Non-taxation Under Domestic Rules and Tax Treaty Law : the Example of Spain
Author: F.D. Martínez Laguna
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

Attention has been paid to double non-taxation resulting from contractual hybrid financial instruments, which are instruments that share debt and equity features. This article focuses on a specific Institutional Hybrid Financial Instrument instead. Institutional Hybrid Financial Instruments are equity instruments that could equally lead to conflicts of qualification and double non-taxation considering the deductibility from a tax perspective according to a tax policy decision. The analysis deals with the application of the Spanish exemption method to Brazilian Juros sobre o Capital Próprio from a domestic law and tax treaty perspective. Moreover, the implementation of linking rules and its implications regarding hybrid financial instruments are also considered.

Hybrid Entities in Tax Treaty Law

Hybrid Entities in Tax Treaty Law
Author: Sriram Govind
Publisher: Linde Verlag GmbH
Total Pages: 696
Release: 2020-09-03
Genre: Law
ISBN: 3709410754

Tax treaty law and EU tax law in connection with hybrid entities Hybrid entities have traditionally been used as an avenue for international tax planning, and extending benefits under tax treaties to such entities has been a source of controversy for many years now. Although the OECD Partnership Report provided solid policy footing on this issue, there was still no common legal basis that countries could rely on for such positions. The increasing focus of countries towards the curbing of tax avoidance and abuse involving hybrid mismatch arrangements culminated in a specific action plan in the BEPS Project being dedicated to the design of domestic rules and the development of treaty provisions that would neutralize the tax effects of such arrangements. This volume provides an in-depth analysis of various aspects of this topic. It is divided into two parts – the first dealing exclusively with tax treaty issues arising in connection with hybrid entities and the second dealing with EU tax law issues surrounding hybrid entities. The former part comprises chapters analysing how tax treaties have historically dealt with this issue with a focus on domestic court jurisprudence, the positions in the OECD and the UN Model Conventions, the developments that have come about owing to the BEPS Project, and the impact of several existing measures, regimes, and vehicles on these tax treaty provisions. The latter part comprises chapters on how hybrid entities are dealt with under primary EU law, under various secondary law directives including the newly enacted Anti-Tax Avoidance Directives, and an analysis of policy solutions offered in this direction.

Double non-taxation and the use of hybrid entities

Double non-taxation and the use of hybrid entities
Author: Leopoldo Parada
Publisher: Kluwer Law International B.V.
Total Pages: 531
Release: 2023-12-11
Genre: Law
ISBN: 940354676X

The topics of double non-taxation and hybrid entities have acquired particular importance in a context where transformations in the tax world have led to international commitments materialised in the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project. In what is the first systematic in-depth analysis of the OECD BEPS Action Plan 2 and hybrid entities, this timely book provides a critical review of the approach adopted by the OECD and proposes a deeply informed alternative method to deal with the problem of hybrid entity mismatches. The author analyses the interaction between the double non-taxation outcome and the use of hybrid entities in an approach not strictly linked to any specific tax jurisdiction. To this end, the analysis includes case studies and examples from a range of jurisdictions emphasising the international tax context, also including the application of tax treaties. Among the seminal matters covered in this edition are the following: foundations of the concepts of double non-taxation and hybrid entities; extensive analysis based on the rules of characterisation of foreign entities for tax purposes in the United States, Spain, Denmark, and Germany, as well as on the Poland/United States and Canada/United States tax treaties; in-depth analysis of the implications of Article 1(2) OECD Model Tax Convention and Article 3(1) Multilateral Instrument (MLI), especially considering the position of developing (source) countries; detailed analysis of the OECD BEPS Action 2 and its recommendations (linking rules), including its implementation in the EU Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (ATAD); and elaborated alternative method to deal with hybrid entity mismatches (reactive coordination rule), which is informed by the tax policy aims of simplicity, coherence, and administrability. Detailed comparisons between the author’s proposal and other existing rules elucidate common points and deviations. If merely for its unparalleled clarification of the issues, this book will prove of immeasurable value to practitioners, tax authorities, policymakers and academics concerned with international tax law. Beyond that, as an authoritative guide that promises to reorient the discussion to what really matters in the debate regarding hybrid entity mismatches, this analysis elaborates solutions applicable to a generality of cases worldwide and, therefore, hugely promotes the urgent quest for alternative views.