Taxation of Services

The Multifaceted World of Service Taxation

The postgraduate LL.M. program in International Tax Law at WU (Vienna University of Economics and Business) has an excellent reputation not only because of its outstanding curriculum and excellent faculty but also because of its competitive nature and exceptional students. It has become a tradition that each year's master theses are written on a general, timely topic, and the results are published in a book. The fantastic thing about this concept is that the students work as a team to create an academic book in the field of international tax law.

This year’s volume of the Series on International Tax Law is dedicated to the much-discussed topic “taxation of services”. This book offers a concise and structured examination of the taxation of services from theoretical, comparative, tax treaty, and VAT and EU law perspectives. It opens with general questions including the historical development of the taxation of cross-border services, jurisdiction to tax, anti-abuse rules, and recent developments before turning to the challenges of digital services taxation such as the definition of digital services, nexus, international trade law, comparative country practice, and the interaction with Pillar One.

The volume further explores the treatment of cross-border services in double taxation conventions including service permanent establishments; the distinction between business profits, royalties, and technical services; and the allocation of taxing rights under the OECD and UN Model. It concludes with VAT and EU law aspects covering the destination principle, fixed establishments, place-of-supply rules, the platform economy, and the compatibility of digital services taxes and preferential treatment of services with EU fundamental freedoms, state aid rules, and the Charter of Fundamental Rights.