On Wednesday November 18, 2020, the United States Tax Court, via the pen of a very able Judge, issued the decision in a very important transfer pricing case, The Coca-Cola Company & Subsidiaries, Petitioner v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent, 155 T.C. No. 10. Caution is always required in reading the tax decisions of […]
All posts by jswilkie
The Supreme Court's Accumulating Tax Brief - To What End?
A question that has lingered through the Summer and into the Fall has been answered in the last couple of days. Leave of the Supreme Court of Canada has been sought by the tax authorities to appeal the Federal Court of Appeal's early Summer decision in Cameco. If the Supreme Court grants leave, it […]
The UN Tax Committee Weighs in on “Digital Services”: A New Article 12B for the UN Model Tax Convention?
The initial proposal of a drafting group of the United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters has recently been released. This proposal arises from proceedings of the Committee in late June of this year. It is important to understand the context of UN work of this nature. The members of […]
A European Perspective on the European General Court’s Apple Judgment
Professor Adolfo Martín Jiménez, who is the Chairman of the European Association of Tax Law Professors and Professor of Tax Law / Public Law in the Facultad de Derecho Universidad de Cádiz Spain has recently published a commentary on the Apple decision with his colleague Jorge Piernas López who is Associate Professor of International […]
The European General Court Cuts Apple to Its Core: Reflections on Jurisdiction to Tax, Fiscal and Tax Sovereignty, and the Limits of Transfer Pricing
The Apple Judgment[1] On July 15, 2020, the European General Court published its long-awaited judgment in the Apple “state aid” case.[2] At issue is whether Ireland “aided” Apple by providing tax rulings limiting Irish tax to an agreed measure of the branch profits attributable only to activities in Ireland of two Apple subsidiaries that […]
Now You “See” It, Now You Don’t: More Reflections on Taxable Presence In a World With Less Observable Presence
The international tax community is consumed with re-evaluating the utility and adequacy of typical markers of international tax jurisdiction, associated among others with the tax treaty notion of “permanent establishment”. In this context, a PE, as it is known, is a description of what is considered to be a sufficient intensity of business presence […]
Prelude to Saro Persaud and "First Nations Taxation"
In the following post, Saro Persaud examines “international” taxation in Canada with reference to First Nations among other nations in Canada and in that connection how First Nations taxation is administered. The situation of “first nations” in relation to other “nations” within Canada reflects parallels unconstrained by the typical domestic Canadian political and constitutional […]
“Think About the Why of Spending Before the How of Paying” and Remember, “Luck Has a Lot to Do With It” – Ed Kleinbard’s Legacy
This is not an obituary, at least it is not meant to be. However, I suppose it could be. Ed Kleinbard is one of the most profound, straightforward and intellectually honest “thinkers” in taxation of his and our time – and I would say, given his experience with advising on, crafting and commenting on […]
Cameco: The Taxpayer Prevails in the Federal Court of Appeal and the Tax Court’s Decision is Sustained – But Conceivably Much More Than That
Very shortly ago, the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in The Queen v. Cameco Corporation (2020 FCA 112, delivered on June 26, 2020) was made public. By any measure in contemporary taxation (in Canada certainly, but for the transfer pricing world globally) the decisions of both the Tax Court of Canada and the Federal […]
Paying for COVID Relief and the State of Corporate Taxation
One of Canada’s most prolific commentators on tax matters in Canada, particularly international tax developments as Canada is affected by them, is Nat Boidman, who practices at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP in their Montreal office. Nat’s comments regularly are a catalyst for hard thinking about tax matters. In a recent Letter to […]