Number 11 - 2006 contains the following:
 

This article advocates an origin-based interpretation of the term "source" and argues in favour of capital and labour-import neutrality and a source-based approach. It first addresses the concept of source from a juridical perspective and identifies a multitude of meanings used in source rules in international tax law. Regarding economic policy, the article suggests that states should rethink the economic policy underlying their tax system. The article also considers some EU aspects and some treaty aspects. Finally, the article outlines alternative origin-based source rules for some classes of income and deductions.

Hong Kong is a significant and successful economy that relies virtually solely on source-based taxation. This article examines Hong Kong's source rules with the aim of providing useful comparative benchmarks for thinking about them in the context of the current debate on residence/source taxation, identifies various contentious areas that continue to vex both Hong Kong taxpayers and tax administrators, and queries whether the residence/source dichotomy in the Hong Kong context is illusory. The article concludes that the "facts and circumstances" rules for source of profits applied in Hong Kong are the product of a very different era, and it must be asked whether they are now appropriate for modern commerce.

The OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration has focused on the problem of international tax disputes and, in this context, examined the effectiveness of the mutual agreement procedure (MAP), which is provided for in tax treaties following the OECD Model Tax Convention and which has been the traditional mechanism for resolving cross-border tax treaty disputes. The OECD has made proposals aimed at improving the MAP process and has released a draft "Manual on Effective Mutual Agreement Procedures" which, when finalized, will provide tax administrations and taxpayers with basic information on the operation of the MAP and identify the best practices for MAPs without, however, imposing a set of binding rules on the OECD countries. This article summarizes the OECD proposals, compares them with the existing arbitration clauses in a few of Germany's tax treaties, analyses the compatibility of the proposals with German domestic tax law, and explores the extent to which they could be incorporated into German law.