General Tax Treaties vs. T.I.E.A.s

"General Tax Treaties vs. T.I.E.A.s: Assessing Tools to Ensure Transparency in a Globalised World from the Perspective of Developing Countries"

The article builds upon an overview of the current status of development of the tax treaty network of five developing countries (Brazil, Colombia, South Africa, Uganda and Uruguay), focusing on the provisions related to tax information exchange. In particular, the extent and quality of the existing treaty networks is summarised for each country. On this basis, specific tax treaty policy and drafting issues are subsequently addressed regarding the preferences of the participating States as to the legal instrument (General Tax Treaties, TIEAs, multilateral agreements) and as to the wording of the provisions on international exchange of tax information. The so-called “OECD best practice” is used as an indicator for the generally accepted standard in this field, since it is followed by most countries.                                                                             

The main ambition and original contribution of this research would be to address the most topical issues related to the exchange of tax information for developing countries and, based on a «bottom-up» empirical approach, to set forth policy proposals that may preserve the interests of these countries, while ensuring global transparency in a globalised world. It follows that other questions related to the conclusion of international tax agreements, such as questions regarding the allocation of taxing powers and the elimination of double taxation, will not be addressed, unless this is required for the better understanding of the issues related to the international exchange of tax information.  

The meta-article is composed of a background section describing the state of play as to the conclusion of agreements that concern, partially or exclusively, the exchange of tax information in the participating States; two analysis sections identifying the reasons behind the tax policy and drafting variations observed in the tax treaty network of the participating States respectively; and a final section summarising the findings of the previous sections and containing some tax policy and drafting recommendations to overcome identified difficulties and to meet the specific needs of developing countries.

The article [Pdf]

Published Jan. 19, 2016 9:16 AM - Last modified Jan. 21, 2016 1:41 PM