Transfer Pricing,Taxing Rights over Cross-Border Sales Income and the OECD Two-Pillar Response

The confluence of several factors including government fiscal pressures and growing opportunities for tax minimization in a digital economy prompted the OECD to embark on a program to reduce base erosion and profit shifting(BEPS).At the same time,countries became increasingly unhappy about international tax rules that left them unable to impose income taxes on companies earning profits by selling to customers inside their country without establishing a taxable presence there.The frustration led to unilateral responses that prompted the OECD to develop proposals to address this problem as well.The OECD’s proposals to reduce profit shifting and enhance taxing rights of sales destination countries evolved into what are now known as Pillar One and Pillar Two international tax reforms.This paper provides an overview of the operation of each of the Pillars and notes the limitations that prevent them from addressing the underlying causes of profit shifting and providing full taxing rights to sales destination jurisdictions.

Taxation of E-commerce:Global and National Trends

This article aims to assess the significance of electronic commerce(e-commerce)and digitalization,and examine the existing taxation practices both globally and in the Republic of Azerbaijan.In contrast to traditional trade,e-commerce relies on modern digital solutions for conducting business operations.When we examine the statistics of e-commerce turnover,it becomes evident that both globally and within the Republic of Azerbaijan,there has been a consistent upward trajectory in turnover over the years.Consequently,it is imperative to emphasize the significance of regulating activities stemming from various emerging trends in e-commerce and adopting a more intricate approach to electronic tax accounting for non-resident entities engaged in e-commerce.

Taxing Digital Economy:A Critical View around the GloBE(Pillar Two)

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)proposal for taxation of digital economy constitutes one of the most ambitious projects in the field of taxation and may lead to the most significant reform to international tax rules in the 20th century.Based on a two-pillar approach,Pillar Two of the proposal suggests the adoption of Global Anti-Base Erosion(GloBE)provisions that are aimed at introducing a worldwide minimum tax.In this article,a critical analysis is based that the GloBE proposal suggests that it represents a shift in the OECD policy.As compared to base erosion and profit shifting(BEPS),it jeopardizes the tax sovereignty of jurisdictions and it raises fundamental challenges of implementation,both in terms of amendments to domestic law and conflicts with tax treaties.

Tax distortions in cross-border flows of intangible assets

The phenomenon of global fragmented production and associated trade in intermediate products,including intangible assets,has changed how economists study globalization and how new public policies are shaped.Understanding cross-border flows of disembodied knowledge,often associated with intellectual property(IP),is essential for analyzing how modern economies operate.Available data to document these international IP-related knowledge flowsdnamely cross-border payments for IPdare distorted by various factors.Tax planning by multinational enterprises has seriously distorted the measurement of cross-border IP flows,affecting national measurements of imports,exports,GDP,and productivity.The tax-induced mismeasurement could be more than 35% of global charges for use of intellectual property,and greater for individual countries,particularly high-taxrate countries.International initiatives to address the effects of tax base erosion,profit shifting,and other statistical initiatives on global value chains will improve future measurements of cross-border IP flows,improving the understanding of both the creation and uses of IP.

Transfer Pricing in BEPS Project and China's Response

A major concern on base erosion and profit shifting(BEPS)is transfer pricing,which is discussed in BEPS Action Items 8-10 and 13.Actions 8-10 contain revised guidance,which ensures that transfer pricing rules secure outcomes that better align operational profits with the economic activities that generate them,as well as guidance on transactions involving cross-border commodity transactions and on low value-adding intra-group services.Action 13 contains a three-tiered standardized approach to transfer pricing documentation,including a minimum standard on country-by-country reports(CbCRs).However,the approach of Actions 8-10 still focuses on the restoration of the dysfunctional rules built on the arm's length principle,which is rooted in the principle of separate independent entity.The threshold of Action 13 excludes many large multinational enterprises(MNEs)from the CbCR requirement and deprives developing countries access to the information of MNEs below the threshold.Chapter 6 of the Chinese Corporate Income Tax Law,under the title"Special Tax Adjustments,"provided the legal foundations of transfer pricing and transfer pricing documentation in China.To effectively implement the BEPS package in China and to comprehensively update the existing Circular 2,the State Taxation Administration(STA)released a Discussion Draft of a Circular on Implementation Measures for Special Tax Adjustments in September 2015,ranging from Action 3(controlled foreign company rules),Action 8-10(aligning transfer pricing outcomes with value creation)to Action 13(transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting)in details.Right now,a series of patches,such as the STA Bulletins 45,42,64,and 6,have been made to replace a substantial part of Circular 2.

When the Belt and Road Initiative Meets BEPS:Reforming China's Foreign Tax Credit Rules in the New Era

Today,international taxation is at an inflection point.The implementation of action plan on base erosion and profit shifing(BEPS)and enforcement of the Belt and Road Initiative are reshaping taxation rules and principles.As a crucial aspect of outbound taxation,foreign tax credit is expected to embrace the normative objectives of the new era,which emphasize the importance of subjecting all trans-border business activities to equitable,efficient,and coordinated taxation.Currently,China's foreign tax credit prescribes in an incompatible pattern;it lacks clear legislative intent,despite marking specific rules with archaic unilateral characters.To reform this regime,legislative principle should reflect the latest consensus on the economic activities'nexus and ensure that the income derived from trans-border transactions falls under a minimum tax.Regarding specific rules,it is strongly suggested that active and passive incomes be distinguished and the equity holding threshold of obtaining indirect credit be lowered.China's foreign tax credit reform should take an inclusive perspective,actively participating in the cooperation between countries.