Access to Treaty Benefits

A rigorous analysis of various aspects related to treaty access

Tax treaty access is an ongoing challenge for both taxpayers and tax authorities. This volume provides a rigorous analysis of various aspects related to treaty access. Schematically, the volume is divided into four parts. The first part deals with general interpretative issues and principles; the second and third parts cover a wide range of sub-aspects relating to the subjective and objective scope of tax treaties and the recent challenges posed to tax treaty access, while the fourth part focuses on the knotty issues of treaty shopping and abuse. The structure of the volume reflects the necessity to approach access to treaty benefits in a holistic way and view the recent trends through a wide lens.

All chapters contain a complete examination of the relevant topics, starting from a historical perspective and continuing with tax treaty law principles and tax practice analysis. Where appropriate, a domestic law and domestic courts’ jurisprudence perspective was added as well as a comparative analysis of several jurisdictions thus complementing the examination of each topic. Finally, special attention is given to treaty abuse and the new GAAR introduced in the 2017 OECD Model together with its interrelation with other treaty and domestic anti-abuse provisions and the impact of these provisions on tax treaty access and tax policy in general.