Tax and Legal News - July-August 2022

Holidays in turbulent tax times

July is (finally) here, which for many of us (in the northern hemisphere) means summer vacation.

I’m looking forward to sun, sea and relaxation and, for a while at least, forbidding myself from thinking about the turbulent changes and trends in the tax world…

and the fact that there are a lot of them on the table at the moment. For example:

• A two-pillar reform of the international tax system, which without exaggeration may represent a global tax revolution that could significantly affect both the way multinational corporations operate as well as national tax policies.
• The ATAD3 or Unshell initiative, which intends to shine a light on companies with an insufficient substance.
• The DEBRA initiative to make equity investment more attractive (as opposed to the currently preferred loan financing).
• The increasingly strict approach of tax administrators (but also the courts) to the concept of beneficial ownership, as evidenced, inter alia, by recent rulings on the issue of sublicenses.
• The increasingly strict approach of tax administrators (but also courts) to the concept of abuse of law, as evidenced, inter alia, by recent judgments concerning various forms of refinancing.
• Greater pressure for transparency; examples include DAC6 (reporting on potentially problematic tax structures), the new DAC7 (reporting on digital platform operators) and the upcoming DAC8 (reporting on crypto-assets).
• The increasingly strict approach of tax administrators (but also courts) to evidence; examples include recent decisions concerning advertising services, financing costs or costs related to the holding of subsidiaries.

Anyway… I was talking about rest. So for now, I’m going to put these matters aside and get out into the sun.

To all our loyal Tax and Legal News readers: thank you for reading. I wish you a wonderful peaceful holiday season. See you again in September!