Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance

<p>This thesis analyzes the concept of corporate residence, with particular reference to the law in the UK and Canada. It explores why corporate residence is relevant in tax policy, how corporate residence is understood in law, and how revenue authorities respond to the use and alleged 'a...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Loomer, G
Other Authors: Freedman, J
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2011
Subjects:
_version_ 1797057466581647360
author Loomer, G
author2 Freedman, J
author_facet Freedman, J
Loomer, G
author_sort Loomer, G
collection OXFORD
description <p>This thesis analyzes the concept of corporate residence, with particular reference to the law in the UK and Canada. It explores why corporate residence is relevant in tax policy, how corporate residence is understood in law, and how revenue authorities respond to the use and alleged 'abuse' of residence rules. Part I argues that the residence of taxpayers generally (individual or corporate) remains a relevant factor in international tax design, that taxation of corporations on the basis of residence has some justification, but that there is a disjunction between meaningful residence-based taxation and current definitions of corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties. The formulations of residence based on incorporation, central management and control, and place of effective management, particularly as applied to multinational enterprises, are considered and are found to be deficient. Part II critically analyzes the major policy responses of the UK and Canadian governments to the exploitation of corporate residence. It argues that key legislative and administrative responses to international tax avoidance activities, for both outbound and inbound investment, are purportedly based on the acceptance of formal corporate residence yet undermine that concept in an effort to impose tax or refuse treaty relief based on where economic interests actually exist. The responses considered are the application of controlled foreign companies legislation to offshore subsidiaries, the invocation of treaty anti-abuse rules with respect to offshore intermediaries, and the use of overarching general anti-avoidance measures to challenge varied structures that rely on offshore entities. These haphazard anti-avoidance rules are overlaid with revenue authorities' indignation at the motivations that underlie many corporate relocations. It is argued that a more coherent approach would be to focus on the objective reality or unreality of corporate establishment, by reformulating corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties.</p>
first_indexed 2024-03-06T19:36:46Z
format Thesis
id oxford-uuid:1f515456-3d87-4942-9600-b9cfe73c6662
institution University of Oxford
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T19:36:46Z
publishDate 2011
record_format dspace
spelling oxford-uuid:1f515456-3d87-4942-9600-b9cfe73c66622022-03-26T11:21:10ZReformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidanceThesishttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_db06uuid:1f515456-3d87-4942-9600-b9cfe73c6662TaxationInternational taxationEconomicsLawInternational businessEnglishOxford University Research Archive - Valet2011Loomer, GFreedman, J<p>This thesis analyzes the concept of corporate residence, with particular reference to the law in the UK and Canada. It explores why corporate residence is relevant in tax policy, how corporate residence is understood in law, and how revenue authorities respond to the use and alleged 'abuse' of residence rules. Part I argues that the residence of taxpayers generally (individual or corporate) remains a relevant factor in international tax design, that taxation of corporations on the basis of residence has some justification, but that there is a disjunction between meaningful residence-based taxation and current definitions of corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties. The formulations of residence based on incorporation, central management and control, and place of effective management, particularly as applied to multinational enterprises, are considered and are found to be deficient. Part II critically analyzes the major policy responses of the UK and Canadian governments to the exploitation of corporate residence. It argues that key legislative and administrative responses to international tax avoidance activities, for both outbound and inbound investment, are purportedly based on the acceptance of formal corporate residence yet undermine that concept in an effort to impose tax or refuse treaty relief based on where economic interests actually exist. The responses considered are the application of controlled foreign companies legislation to offshore subsidiaries, the invocation of treaty anti-abuse rules with respect to offshore intermediaries, and the use of overarching general anti-avoidance measures to challenge varied structures that rely on offshore entities. These haphazard anti-avoidance rules are overlaid with revenue authorities' indignation at the motivations that underlie many corporate relocations. It is argued that a more coherent approach would be to focus on the objective reality or unreality of corporate establishment, by reformulating corporate residence in domestic law and tax treaties.</p>
spellingShingle Taxation
International taxation
Economics
Law
International business
Loomer, G
Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title_full Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title_fullStr Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title_full_unstemmed Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title_short Reformulating corporate residence: a coherent response to international tax avoidance
title_sort reformulating corporate residence a coherent response to international tax avoidance
topic Taxation
International taxation
Economics
Law
International business
work_keys_str_mv AT loomerg reformulatingcorporateresidenceacoherentresponsetointernationaltaxavoidance