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RICHARD X. RESCH THE INTERPRETATION OF PLURILINGUAL TAX TREATIES Based on an analysis of 3,844 tax treaties, the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and its Commentaries (VCLT), and case law of various domestic and international courts. The current orthodoxy maintains that courts are not required to compare all language texts of a plurilingual treaty but may rely on a single one for cases of routine interpretation. This view is erroneous, in violation of the VCLT, and the source of treaty misapplication; taxpayers are ill-advised to pay attention only to the text in their own language. In daily practice, the issue is of great relevance: almost three-quarters of the well over 3,000 concluded tax treaties are plurilingual. The BEPS MLI escalates complexity because it modifies a large number of treaties having texts in various languages. This study aims to (1) help diminish treaty misapplication through abandonment of the current orthodoxy, (2) show that sole reliance on prevailing texts is available as a pragmatic alternative in line with the VCLT, and (3) provide policy recommendations how residual cases may be eliminated. To support these goals, this study seeks to provide conclusive arguments and useful data to policy makers, treaty negotiators, judges, practitioners, and scholars. Its analysis of all tax treaty final clauses is intended to help both taxpayers and courts interpreting tax treaties in practice. The general arguments presented in this book are however not limited to tax treaties, since similar issues play a role in the interpretation of other treaties, for example, in the field of foreign investment regulation.
The book identifies linguistic issues arising in bilateral income tax conventions and presents an in-dept analysis of tax treaty policies on multilingualism and the administrative practice and case law on the issues raised by the translation of treaties. Individual country surveys discuss the use of legal concepts, including those that do not exist in the legal system of one of the two contracting states and the way such concepts should be interpreted in such state (e.g. trust). Further, the use of concepts in one state that are similar but not identical to a treaty concept that is well known only in the other state (e.g. droit d'auteur vs copyright) are presented. The book also includes special reports on multilingual issues under both art. 33 of the Vienna Convention and art. 3(2) of the OECD Model Convention and Commentaries. Finally, a specific chapter is devoted to the EU law aspects and a review of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Justice (ECJ).
This publication considers the interpretation of tax treaties primarily from the standpoint of public international law. The principal purpose of this study is to analyse and discuss the rules and principles of international law relevant to the interpretation of treaties in general, and their application to tax treaties in particular. The rules of international law enshrined in articles 31, 32 and 33 of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties are therefore central to this study. Where appropriate, reference is made to the jurisprudence of the International Court of Justice, and to the law and procedure of other international court and tribunals. Considers also the extent to which the relevant rules and principles of international law are binding on domestic court and taxpayers. The importance of international law for the purpose of the interpretation of tax treaties is illustrated by a number of leading cases decided by the Dutch Supreme Court (Hoge Raad).
Tax treaties are generally concluded in multiple authentic languages. This practice adds a factor that is to be taken into account when such treaties are interpreted and, in some cases, increases the complexity of that task.0 This book aims at identifying and clarifying the most common issues emerging in the interpretation of multilingual tax treaties. It suggests how an interpreter should tackle and disentangle such issues under public international law, with emphasis on the arguments to be used and the elements and items of evidence the interpreter can rely on to support his construction of the treaty. The issues of interpretation of multilingual treaties dealt with in this study may be divided between those of a general nature and those specific to multilingual tax treaties. Particular attention is paid to the interaction between the renvoi to the contracting states’ domestic laws, encompassed in article 3(2) of OECD Model-based tax treaties, and the linguistic aspects of those treaties, including their multilingualism.
This book presents an overview of the materials, court cases and mutual agreement procedures implemented in Canada, USA and Mexcio. In addition, it provides a background to the development of tax treaty law and the information necessary to interpret a tax treaty based upon the principles codified in the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties. Contents: the background of the early model tax conventions; the development of tax treaty law; the specific materials from Canada, the United States and Mexico; proposal for a trilateral tax treaty for North America to provide full relief from the harmful barriers against free movement of capital and services.
The purpose of this study is to single out and clarify the most common types of issues emerging in the interpretation of multilingual tax treaties (i.e. tax treaties authenticated in two or more languages). Its purpose is also to suggest how the interpreter should tackle and disentangle such issues under public international law, with a particular emphasis on the kinds of arguments he should use and the kinds of elements and items of evidence he should rely upon in order to support his construction of the treaty.
This report summarizes the webinar held on 29 January 2021 by the judges of the International Association of Tax Judges on the topic of the use and interpretation of plurilingual tax treaties in tax courts.
This article argues the case for a holistic approach to tax treaty interpretation in respect of multiple authentic language texts, which is supported by Polish case law. In daily practice, courts rarely consider other language text(s). Established international doctrine sanctions this practice by maintaining that a comparison of text(s) would not be necessary for cases of 'routine interpretation'. This state of affairs impairs international consistency of tax treaty interpretation and necessarily produces cases of treaty misapplication. Hence, it is all the more important to pay attention to case law in which a court has looked at other authentic text(s) - particularly when it has commented on the methodology of plurilingual treaty interpretation in a fundamental manner and not only used the other text(s) to resolve an ambiguity or confirm an interpretation based on the text in its own language. This article outlines and discusses the position developed by the Polish Supreme Administrative Court (NSA) which is congruent with the views developed by the present author elsewhere based on fundamental principles of public international law and considerations of systematic consistency.
Because the normative concepts referred to in tax treaties are susceptible to contextual variation, the rules embedded in such treaties cannot be applied without interpretation. In this incomparable book, an internationally known tax law practitioner and scholar draws on decades of knowledge-gathering to present a deeply evolved general theory of tax treaty interpretation, thoroughly discussing the starting points and elements of interpretation that should be considered by all stakeholders in the field of international taxation. In the course of his rigorous commentary, the author invokes the established canons that apply to the interpretation of tax treaties, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties and the OECD and UN Model Conventions. He presents a detailed investigation of the implications for tax treaty interpretation of such topics and issues as the following: essential concepts such as "context" and "qualification"; evolution of international taxation from bilateralism to multilateralism; specific interpretation issues raised by bilateral tax treaties; economic crises as drivers for changes in international taxation rules; the OECD/G-20 BEPS project; digitalization of the economy; pandemic, war, and deglobalization; interpretation of international treaties versus interpretation of domestic laws; and interpretation of double tax conventions in countries that are not OECD members. In the absence of a declaration of international tax principles, this book's in-depth analysis of the theory of interpretation of international tax treaties--given the risks of interpreting treaties with different jurisdictions and different languages--will ensure an appropriate understanding of the current context of international taxation, providing practitioners and policymakers with a fully informed background that will guide the interpretation of any international tax treaty.
This book provides an excellent, practical resource for international tax practitioners no matter where they are located. Looking at tax treaties from a practical and planning point of view, the book provides an insight into treaty interpretation and application in a number of countries. Other highlights include case studies and OECD model treaties. Written by an expert in the field and taking the practical approach rather than the academic, this truly is an essential global tool for the tax adviser wishing to use tax treaties in tax planning.