Description

On 26 April 2022 the UN Tax Committee (United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters) published the fifth (2021) edition of the UN Model (the first version was released in 1980).  After in the preceding UN Model update (2017) a special article was added on the taxation of fees for technical services (Art. 12A), the 2021 update inserted another new provision: Art. 12B on income from automated digital services.  The 2021 UN Model also adds to the existing Art. 13 (Capital gains) a special rule on taxation of gains from the indirect disposition of shares and of gains from the alienation of non-immovable natural resources (e.g., a fishing quota).  Further, various provisions that had been adopted by the OECD in the 2017 OECD Model Convention, have now found their way in the 2021 update of the UN Model.

The first part of the Seminar will focus on the new Art. 12B, which offers an alternative to the OECD Pillar I proposal.  It remains to be seen whether states will seriously consider the inclusion of such a provision in their tax treaties.  Further, attention will be paid to the 2017 introduced provision on technical services fees (Art. 12A), which is widely considered to be more likely to find its ways in actual treaties.

Next, the Seminar will deal with the important changes that the 2021 UN Model makes to the taxing rights in respect of capital gains.  Particularly the new rule on gains realized through the disposal of shares of companies that have an indirect interest in companies resident in the other treaty state, deserves special attention:  it deals with the issue that was at the core of the controversial 2012 Vodafone India Supreme Court decision. 

3.00PM   Registration
3.30PM   Welcome by Assoc. Prof. Stephen Phua, NUS Law
3.35PM   Opening Remarks by Barbara Voskamp, Loyens & Loeff
3.40PM   Presentation by Prof. Kees van Raad
5.00PM   Q&A moderated by Assoc. Prof. Stephen Phua
5.30PM   End