Posted: May 2nd, 2015

Tax

Paper, Order, or Assignment Requirements

1. “Section 23A was implemented at a time when non-tax issues were of concern to the Irish Government. It has recently been amended to take account of the so called “Stateless Income” phenomenon”. 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement; setting out the rationale for the original introduction of this legislation, recent changes to the legislation and what you understand by the measures introduced giving examples of its application and what measures a company may undertake to circumvent recently enacted provisions. 
2. In 2004, US Congress enacted an anti-avoidance law to prevent “corporate inversions” in which corporations reincorporate in a foreign country to avoid paying U.S. taxes, but a gaping loophole allows corporations to circumvent this law by merging with a foreign company – a deal related inversion. 
Requirement: Discuss the above statement, explaining the rationale for the legislation and the manner in which the tax provisions apply and have been circumvented as highlighted by recent media attention. 

3. “The United States has historically sought to persuade other countries to modify practices that obstruct the enforcement of the tax laws enacted by Congress.” 
Mark Weinberger, US Treasury Assistant Secretary, 2001. 
The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) is an expansive automatic exchange of information system introduced by the US Congress in March 2010 in order to counter offshore tax evasion by means of adding a significant impetus to the ‘persuasive’ force available to the US for furthering the stance enunciated above. 
Requirement: Discuss the above statement, explaining the manner in which the tax provisions apply and the rationale for the legislation. 

4.Basic Idea – ALP : The most authoritative statement of the principle is found in paragraph 1 of article 9 of the OECD Double Tax Treaty model:
“[When] conditions are made or imposed between … two [associated] enterprises in their commercial or financial relations which differ from those which would be made between independent enterprises, then any profits which would, but for those conditions, have accrued to one of the enterprises, but, by reason of those conditions, have not so accrued, may be included in the profits of that enterprise and taxed accordingly”.
OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital 2008
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7iNOYCA3tY 
Requirement: Discuss the above statement, explaining what do you understand from the video.

5. “The taxation of foreign dividends received by Irish Corporates has undergone radical change as a result of developments at the European Court of Justice” 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement; setting out the rationale for the changes made in Irish tax policy since 2004 and provide a worked example as to how foreign tax credit relief is computed. 

6. “Advance Pricing Agreements have become popular for companies seeking to minimise their tax risks. Their use has also been highlighted in recent EU Commission’s enquires into certain aspects of Irish tax treatment of a well-known ICT company”. 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement; setting out what you understand by the meaning of APAs and the rationale applied by multinationals in seeking to put such agreements in place. 

7. Thin Capitalisation is used by most OECD countries as part of its tax armoury to prevent abusive transfer pricing policies 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement setting out what the measures entail and the approach taken by Irish policy makers as represented in the TCA 1997. In answering this you are required to provide examples of the measures adopted in Irish tax legislation. 
8. “The problem with extant tax policy is that authorities are seeking to apply 20th century tax principles to 21st century multinationals” 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement; setting out what you understand by the current debate with regard to the taxation of multinationals. 

9. “The genesis for Ireland’s tax policy with regard to the taxation of intellectual property was an attempt to seek to attract extant tax haven structures which might be restructured as a result of G20 and OECD pressures on tax policy designs” 
Requirements: Discuss the above statement; setting out what you regard as the strengths and weaknesses of recently introduced tax policy changes in Ireland.