On 31 May 2010 the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs released a Report on “The Granting of Treaty Benefits with respect to the Income of Collective Investment Vehicles”. The Report contains  proposed changes to the Commentary on the OECD Model Tax Convention dealing with the question of the extent to which either collective investment vehicles (CIVs) or their investors are entitled to treaty benefits on income received by the CIVs. These changes are expected to be included in the 2010 Update to the Model Tax Convention (the draft contents of which were released on 21 May 2010) and the Report would then be included in volume II of the loose-leaf and electronic versions of the Model.
 

On February 25, 2010 the European Court of Justice issued its ruling in X Holding (C-337/08 X Holding Judgment.pdf). Under the facts of the case, a Dutch parent wanted to be allowed to combine with its Belgian subsidiary under the Dutch tax consolidation rules to use the latter losses, which it would have been…

On July 14, 2010 Marco Rossi presented a lecture on the European Union and EU tax law to candidates/students of Master of Science in Taxation at Fairfield University. We provided an overview of the European Union and its institutions, discussed the sources of EU law and the main developments in the area of EU statutory tax…

Italy reinforces its anti abuse rules by requiring separate monthly or quarterly disclosure of transaction with foreign enterprises organized in black listed jurisdictions. Deduction of costs and expenses arising from those transactions is denied unless taxpayer proves legitimate business purpose beyond tax saving.…

A decree presented to the Italian Council of Ministers today will introduce new provisions on contemporaneous documentation for transfer pricing purposes and a new black list with a duty to disclose any transaction carried out in or with any black listed countries to the tax administration. Also, the minimum threshold for the duty to report cross border transfers of money will be reduced to euro 5,000.…

Italy’s tax administration announced stricter controls on tax refund applications filed on behalf of nonresident persons, and sent a notice to various banks acting as intermediaries in which it requested more information in order to avoid abuse and treaty shopping. As a result, banks may be compelled to identify and disclose information about clients and final beneficiaries of the refund.…