Piergiorgio Valente named as Tax Controversy Leader in World Tax’s dedicated Leaders series

Piergiorgio Valente of Valente Associati GEB Partners/ Crowe Valente - Italy named as Tax Controversy Leader in World Tax’s dedicated Leaders series

Tax Controversy Leaders

has recognized Piergiorgio Valente as a highly regarded tax controversy adviser.  

The Tax Controversy Leaders guide identifies the leading individuals working in tax controversy around the world, as selected by their fellow tax professionals. Market leaders chosen by market leaders. This year, the guide covers more jurisdictions, reaches out to more individuals and recognises more practitioners than ever before – from rising stars just making a name for themselves to market leaders with decades of experience behind them.

Any World Tax firm rankings or individual advisor ratings awarded to Valente Associati GEB Partners can be accessed here: https://www.itrworldtax.com/Lawyer/Valente-Associati-GEB-Partners-Crowe-Valente/Piergiorgio-Valente/Profile/2090#profile

For more information about Tax Controversy Leaders, please visit https://www.itrworldtax.com/

Download

COVID19: The Challenges for International Taxation

Introduction

Except for the unprecedented health crisis, the COVID-19 spread has generated the biggest economic and financial shock of the century across markets and cross-borders. The preventive and reactive mechanisms developed by national governments and international and supranational organizations to respond to the crisis give in turn rise to a plethora of tax questions.
It is critical for businesses to understand how the various measures adopted impact on the tax systems and how these have transformed to react to the shock. As such, they will be able to ensure tax compliance while also taking advantage of any relevant tax incentives. Such exercise is particularly challenging, taking into account the complexity of the measures and the various levels in which they have been/are being developed: international, EU and national.

Published in: Kluwer International Tax Blog - 6 August 2020

Download

Italien: Steuervorbescheid für Neuinvestitionen - Mehr Rechtssicherheit bei Investitionen

Mit Gesetzesdekret Nr. 147/2015 sollen Investitionen in Italien gefördert werden. Dafür erhalten Unternehmen und Einzelpersonen die Möglichkeit, ihre Aktivitäten auf italienischem Staatsgebiet in bewusster Kenntnis des geeigneten Besteuerungsmodells zu planen. Es wurden ein sog. Cooperative Compliance Program und ein Advance Ruling on New Investments (Steuervorbescheid für Neuinvestitionen) eingeführt. Damit soll der Dialog mit dem Steuerpflichtigen verbessert werden und ihm mehr Sicherheit bei der Bestimmung der steuerlichen Belastung im Zusammenhang mit relevanten und dauerhaften ausländischen Investitionen in Italien gegeben werden.

Published in: NWB Datenbank - IWB Nr. 10 - 29 May 2020

Download (In German)

Taxing the Digital Economy: a Realistic Goal for 2020?

An ambitious project.
New year. New resolutions.

From an international taxation perspective, the resolution to reach in 2020 is a clear and an urgent one: worldwide consensus on how to tax the digital economy. lt is all but a new project, considering that the discussion started 5 years ago. But 2020 has been set as the landmark-deadline year to find a common solution. lndeed, there is no more margin and no excuse for extensions.

Published in: 47th Issue IAFEI Quarterly

Download

Advance Pricing Arrangements: Optimal Tool – Optimal Framework?

Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) are a diffused tool for taxpayers to obtain certainty in relation to the tax impact of their cross-border activities through an agreement with a tax administration in advance of such activities. APAs can be unilateral, bilateral, or multilateral depending on the number of national tax administrations involved, the latter two promising that the agreement made shall not be questioned in the other affected tax jurisdiction.

Departing from the enhanced mutual agreement procedure (MAP) framework recently established among Member States through the Tax Dispute Resolution Directive, a future EU legislative initiative could outline a robust framework for MAP APAs in the Single Market.

Published in: INTERTAX, Volume 48, Issue - January 22 2020

Download

Taxation in the Future – A New EU: Vision and Impact

The Change of Scenery

On 1 December 2019, the von der Leyen Commission took over for the coming 5 years, and it is called to deliver on a most challenging mandate. The European identity is questioned more than ever before, with Brexit being just one of the several signs. The established structures of the EU and global economy are also questioned. Unprecedented technological developments threaten with unemployment millions of people and demand rapid evolution of new skills, while promising widespread prosperity and unknown potential for humankind. Digitalization keeps alleviating cultural differences; at the same time though, nationalist movements are getting stronger and stronger. Climate change is present, undeniable reality, already in the process to overhaul the face of our planet.

Published in: Kluwer International Tax Blog - December 16, 2019

Download

Let's Meet in Matera and Celebrate IAFEI's 50th Anniversary

In the year in which IAFEI celebrates its 50th anniversary, the 49th Congress of IAFEI will take place in Italy in Matera (2019 European capital of culture) on October 25th and 26th.
The main topic is quite inviting: “An holistic view of the enterprise in a changing world - Cultural heritage, basic value and forward guidance for driving change in business and growth models“.
The scope is to discuss how shall the today’s enterprises evolve towards the one of the future.

Published in: 45th Issue IAFEI Quarterly - 1 October 2019

Download

The Data Economy: On Evaluation and Taxation

While data-centred business models are claiming an ever-growing share of worldwide revenue, regulatory efforts to identify proper tax rules for the relevant activities are intensifying. It is questionable whether or not the proposals currently on the table capture the distinctive features of the data economy. The formulation of appropriate tax rules requires a thorough understanding of the mechanics of data processing activities and due consideration of the difference between information, which is an intangible asset, and tangible assets.

It is widely acknowledged in the areas of business, legislation and policymaking, as well as administration and human rights protection, that the dominion of data is increasing. This is clearly illustrated by the series of legislative initiatives launched and/or adopted in order to provide a legal framework applicable to the unstoppable flow of data.

Data collection and analysis are not, however, new processes. In particular, data processing is deemed to encompass:

any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data or on sets of personal data, whether or not by automated means, such as collection, recording, organisation, structuring, storage, adaptation or alteration, retrieval, consultation, use, disclosure by transmission, dissemination or otherwise making available, alignment or combination, restriction, erasure or destruction.

Published in: European Taxation, 2019 (Volume 59), No. 5 - 15 April 2019

Download

International Tax Dispute Resolution: New EU Rules

lnternational tax disputes arise, in principle, where

1. there is a bilateral or multilateral treaty for the avoidance of double taxation (hereinafter "Double Tax Convention" or "DTC") or an equivalent instrument and

2. the contracting jurisdictions exercise their taxing power in a manner resulting in violation of its provisions.

In addition, such disputes can also arise without violation of the DTC (including equivalent instruments), if there  is disagreement or uncertainty in relation to the correct application of its provisions. In a nutshell, international tax disputes can arise, if there is a framework agreed between two or more jurisdictions regarding the exercise of their taxing power in cases involving both of them (in principle in a DTC).

In their vast majority, existing DTCs previde for the resolution of the above disputes through the so-called mutuai agreement procedure or MAP, following the respective provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention (hereinafter the "OECD Model"). MAP aims at dispute resolution through agreement between  the national tax authorities involved, on the basis of dialogue and cooperation, following request by the taxpayer affected.

Published in: IAFEI Quarterly (43rd Issue) - 11 April 2019

Download

Geotaxation and the Digital: Janus in the Mirror

Geopolitics has been defined as ‘great power competition over access to strategic locations and natural resources’.
In essence, it focuses on the impact of geography on international political relations and vice versa.
The principal actor in international political relations is the state. And the effective power to tax is historically a constitutive element of the state. Tax revenue is, in fact, one of the fundamental resources for the modern state to perform its role, i.e. to ensure security of the people in its territory and to deliver its policy objectives.
Tax policy can, therefore, be considered of key relevance for national sovereignty. In this light, geotaxation can be understood as the study of the interactions between geography and the international tax framework.

It focuses on international tax relations and their development under the influence of geographical factors. Thus, it considers collaborations among different states at various levels, such as the League of Nations, the OECD, the BEPS Inclusive Framework, the UN, the IMF and the European Union, and their impact on national and international tax policy.

Published in: Intertax (Vol.47) - 18 March 2019

Download

Competitive Taxation and Tax Competition: The Winner Takes it All?

The Debate

What makes a tax system competitive?
How can countries multiply the competitiveness of the existing system?
These question-marks are attracting substantial research by today’s policy makers, at national and international level as well as by business lobbyists. Most importantly, their potential replies entail significant impact for taxpayers and the society in general. Indicatively, one of the principal objectives of European Commission’s 2015 Action Plan for A Fair and Efficient Corporate Tax System was to create “a competitive and growth-friendly corporate tax environment for the EU”. On a similar pattern, the 2018 Digital Tax Package seeks to enhance the competitiveness of the Single Market. At the other side of the Atlantic, the fiercely debated U.S. tax reform had one clear-cut objective, to increase the competitiveness of the U.S. tax system.

Published in: Kluwer International Tax Blog - 4 March 2019

Download

Resolving Cross-Border Tax Disputes: Developments in the EU and Around the Globe

Cross-border dispute resolution mechanisms have been evolving rapidly in recent years.
The importance of an effective process for enforcing bilateral double tax agreements and for avoiding double tax issues more generally cannot be understated. Two critical tools in this regard are the mutual agreement procedure and arbitration.
The final report on action 14 of the OECD’s base erosion and profit-shifting project focuses on the improvement of tax dispute resolution. Along with the changes that the multilateral instrument makes to article 25(5) of the model convention, the OECD’s work is inspiring international change.

Published in: TAX NOTES INTERNATIONAL - February 25, 2019

Download

Cyber-Diplomacy and Digital: Some Legal and Economic Aspects

For thousands of years the human species was constrained to limit its activities and creativity in the planetary space. Today, the Digital Revolution has opened a new space: the cyber-space, removing the limits once and for all.

Cyber-space is understood as a virtual world, a notional environment existing in and due to the network of telecommunication technologies. Although untouchable; it interacts with the physical world in the most dynamic manner with material consequences in the latter. The distinctive features of the cyberspace, deriving from its virtual nature, include:

1. the lack of physical borders and hence also of national frontiers;

2. the lack of distance or unification of physical space, meaning potential multiple presence of the event in any number of physical locations;

3. the nullification of time, since any event can happen in zero-time with a simple click and expanded impact;

4. anonymity or potential anonymity through the creation of profiles (even multiple ones) by the users.

Published in: Kluwer International Tax Blog - 8 January 2019

Download

McDonald’s Fiscal State Aid Clearance: Questions Still Pending

Following three years of investigation, McDonald’s has been cleared from the charge that it received fiscal state aid from Luxembourg, by virtue of the European Commission’s concluding decision of 19 September 2018. Thus, the Commission seems to have closed one of the various fronts opened in the fiscal state aid area in the last five years, including cases like Apple, Starbucks and Engie. Yet, the war is much ampler and critical questions remain still pending.

From a business perspective, the ongoing fierce debate entails important implications and requires close monitoring. On the one hand, taxpayers need to ensure their timely intervention in cases concerning tax measures from which they themselves or their competitors have potentially benefitted. On the other hand, major part of the Commission’s recent investigations focuses on tax rulings, questioning their validity as an instrument to obtain tax certainty. The outcome of the debate shall determine the expectations taxpayers can place on the tax rulings they have or request from EU Member States and subsequently their alternatives to ascertain their tax liability in the Single Market.

Published in: Kluwer International Tax Blog - 4 december 2018

Download

Digitalization. Making the Best out of International Taxation’s Disrupters

International taxation is undergoing the most tremendous overhaul of the last 100 years. New standards have been identified at international level, bilateral tax treaties are re-negotiated in a multilateral context, discussions are ongoing on the next changes.

The outburst of the transformation is usually identified about five years ago, when the OECD launched its Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, in 2013. However, the change had in fact started much earlier, when new technologies began revolutionizing our every-day lives. Distances shortened. Time intensified. A new world order arose, where virtuality is the new reality and ideas the new gold.

Published in: Finance&Gestion - n. 363 - October 2018

Download