In particular, the course will cover the residence issue, the concept of permanent establishment (PE), attribution of profits to a PE, passive income, employment income, double taxation relief, non-discrimination and triangular cases. The aim of the course is to make the participants aware of the wide range of tax issues that have to be addressed in applying tax treaties. The course will end each day with a case study to enable participants to gain confidence in applying the skills acquired during the course.
Prior to the course, participants will be given access to an online platform which provides them with additional pre-reading material and supplementary material (e.g. legal documentation, case law and related articles/literature). During the course, participants will be provided with a course binder containing documents relevant to the course.

Day 1

08.30 - 09.00 Registration

09.00 - 09.20 Welcome and IBFD Overview

09.20 - 10.50 Introduction

• Place and role of comprehensive tax treaties in the international legal order
• Relationship between tax treaties and domestic law
• Tax treaty models versus actual bilateral tax treaties
• Interpretation of bilateral tax treaties
• Juridical versus economic double taxation and systems of relief
• Personal and territorial scopes of tax treaties
• Taxes covered by tax treaties
• Types of allocation rules in treaties
• Introduction to residence issues

10.50 - 11.10 Break - Refreshments

11.10 - 12.45 Residence
• The concept of residence in domestic law and bilateral tax treaties
- individuals
- corporations
- tax-exempt entities
• Treaty tiebreaker rules
• Dual residence issues and recent developments with regard to the “place of effective management” concept
• US savings clause

12.45 - 14.00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.40 The Permanent Establishment Concept
• Basic Rule PE concept in OECD Model
• Auxiliary and preparatory activities
• Construction Site PEs
• Service PEs
• PE Concept in the UN Model
• Case law examples

15.40 - 16.00 Break - Refreshments

16.00 - 17.00 Case Studies


Day 2

09.00 - 10.30 Business Profits
• Article 7 OECD Model
• Allocation of assets and profits:
- global methods
- relevant business activity approach
- functionally separate entity approach
• Financing a permanent establishment
• Treatment of losses
• Head office - permanent establishment transactions: in particular intra- company interests and royalties
• New OECD developments
• Article 8 OECD Model

10.30 - 10.50 Break - Refreshments

10.50 - 11.45 Business Profits (continued)

11.45 - 12.45 Passive Income
• What is a passive income
• Income from immovable property in the OECD Model
• Dividends, interest, royalties in the OECD Model
• Beneficial ownership
• Capital gains in the OECD Model
• Article 21 OECD MTC

12.45 - 14.00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.40 Passive Income (continued)

15.40 - 16.00 Break - Refreshments

16.00 - 17.00 Case Studies


Day 3

09.00 - 10.20 Employment Income
• Taxation of dependent personal services
• General rules (183-day rule)
• Hiring-out of labour
• Frontier workers
• Taxation of special payments and pensions
• Taxation of directors, artistes and sportsmen
• Implications for the employing company

10.20 - 10.40 Break - Refreshments

10.40 - 11.30 Employment Income (continued)

11.30 - 12.45 Double Tax Relief and Conflicts of Qualification
• Credit
• Exemption
• Capital import neutrality and capital export neutrality
• Losses and double tax relief
• Tax sparing credit
• Conflicts of qualification

12.45 - 14.00 Lunch

14.00 - 15.40 Non Discrimination and Triangular Cases
• Article 24 OECD Model
• Triangular cases involving PE and dual resident companies

15.40 - 16.00 Break - Refreshments

16.00 - 17.00 Case Studies

Belema Obuoforibo,IBFD, the Netherlands
Tigran Mkrtchyan,IBFD, the Netherlands
Emanuela Santoro,IBFD, the Netherlands