Description

There is an increasing contemporary literature on transnational law. In the tax law context, there is a substantial literature on international tax law, including in bilateral and multilateral treaties and even suggested as international customary law (Avi-Yonah 2006). Recently, Genschel and Rixen (2015) have analysed what they term a “transnational legal order” of international tax. Yet tax law has historically been seen as a bastion and expression of national sovereignty, funding public goods in the nation state. What does it mean to identify a transnational tax legal order? Does transnational tax law really exist? If so, what is its authority and legitimacy? Who are its subjects and its agents? How is it enacted, interpreted and enforced in national or international spheres and how is it embedded in practice? This paper will explore these questions through examining some case studies, including recent developments in base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) reforms especially anti-abuse rules and tax administrative and information rules that support the developing transnational networks of tax administration.

About The Speaker

Miranda Stewart is Professor and Director of the Tax and Transfer Policy Institute, Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University in Canberra. Miranda researches widely on tax law and policy, including taxation of business entities in the context of globalisation; tax and development; and legitimacy of tax reform and institutions nationally and internationally. Recent books include as co-editor, Not for Profits Law (Cambridge University Press, 2014); Sham Transactions (Oxford University Press, 2013); Tax, Law and Development (Edward Elgar, 2013). Miranda is coauthor of Death and Taxes (Thomson Reuters, 6th ed, 2014) and Cooper Krever Vann’s Income Taxation Commentary and Materials (Thomson Reuters, 7th ed, 2012). She also holds an affiliation as a Professor at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne and previously taught at New York University School of Law, NY, USA and worked in private legal practice and in government. Miranda sits on the Permanent Scientific Committee of the International Fiscal Association and is a Fellow of the Centre for Business Taxation at Oxford University.