Opportunities and Challenges of Post-BEPS International Taxation – Current Issues

Overview

This two-day intermediate level course seeks to analyse a selection of critical topical issues, encompassing transfer pricing, the OECD/G20 Pillar Two, indirect transfers of assets abroad, tax treaty treatment of income from e-commerce and services, and the tax consequences of global mobility.

Topics Covered

• Transfer Pricing (TP) in practice
• OECD/IF Pillar Two: The Global Minimum Tax
• Taxation of Capital Gains and Offshore Indirect Asset Transfers: What is the Current State of Play?
• Tax Treaty Treatment of Income from E-Commerce including Digital Services 
• Tax Treaty Treatment of Royalties, Services and Software
• Global Mobility: Taxation Consequences

A brief overview is set out below. 

Day 1: Friday, 13 September 2024

We will dedicate most of the first day to the application of transfer pricing (TP) rules based on the latest OECD TP Guidelines, considering in particular the compliance perspective. We will address general TP issues, considering the changes post-BEPS, such as the (re)characterization of transactions, the methodology for establishing the price of intra-group transactions and TP documentation. Moreover, we will look at the methodology when developing a TP study to justify the pricing of transactions and the problem of lack of comparables. We will deal with, in particular, the Brazilian TP rules based on the Normative Instructions and their application to Brazilian MNE groups with foreign subsidiaries and foreign MNE groups with Brazilian subsidiaries.

Then we will discuss more specific TP topics, i.e. the centralized business model and intra-group services; intra-group intangibles transactions; cost sharing arrangements; business restructuring and exit taxes; the application of Brazilian withholding taxes and other service taxes; and intra-group financial transactions. We will finish this subject by considering the importance of prevention and resolution of TP disputes. In this context, we will discuss the relevance of advance pricing agreements and the mutual agreement procedure.  

The last part of the first day will be dedicated to the OECD/G20 Pillar Two initiative. In recent years, much of the international tax agenda has focused on addressing the fiscal challenges of the digitalization of the economy and remarkable progress has been achieved on the global minimum tax, the implementation of which looms on the horizon. We will devote an entire session to Pillar Two and its implementation from a Latin American perspective. We will adjust the length of this session and/or include it in Day 2 depending on developments on the matter in Brazil and other Latin American countries. 

Day 2: Saturday, 14 September 2024

During the second day, we will delve into a selection of topics relevant for the region where there have been developments at the international level, i.e. offshore indirect transfer of assets; tax treaty treatment of royalties, services and software; tax treaty treatment of income from e-commerce; and the issue of global mobility and taxation.

The taxation of capital gains and indirect transfers of assets abroad is relevant in Latin America. Multinational companies often use offshore structures in their tax planning due to capital gains taxes on the sale of assets. It is highly relevant for tax professionals in the private and public sector to understand the fundamental issues, risks and potential outcomes, as well as some of the most talked-about case decisions. An entire session is devoted to this issue with special attention to real estate (including rights to natural resources).  

We will consider how income from e-commerce including digital services may be treated under tax treaties. We will aim to disentangle the order of application of various tax treaty provisions dealing with it and, in particular, the impact of the 2017 UN Model provision on technical services and then the need and likely success of the 2021 UN Model provision on income from automated digital services. We will consider tax treaty examples from the region and case law.

In this context, we will delve in the problem of the tax treaty treatment of software. In October of last year the UN Tax Committee of Experts decided to explicitly include software in the royalties definition of the UN Model Convention. In order to understand the consequences of this, we will first discuss the treatment of royalties and technical services under tax treaties and then whether software may be considered as included in the existing definition of royalties, looking at examples of approaches in Latin American countries. 

The pandemic accelerated the phenomenon of global mobility and teleworking, which presents different challenges in terms of taxation, for example the tax residency of a person and the possibility of creating a permanent establishment for the employer. We will dedicate a session to discussing these issues including treatment in national legislation and tax treaties, the OECD, UN and EU approach, and examples of treatment in Latin American countries.

 

Learning Objectives

After completing this course, you will be able to:

• Comprehend and define the importance of current developments in international taxation and transfer pricing to your daily practice.

Instructors

Field of study

Taxes

Who should attend

The course is suitable for professionals, such as tax managers and directors, in-house tax and accounting specialists in commerce and industry, practitioners in tax advisory firms, and government officials who deal with international taxation or transfer pricing in Latin America and wish to gain a deeper technical understanding of developments in international taxation, in particular, transfer pricing and tax treaties.

Course Level and Prerequisites

This is an intermediate-level course. Participants taking this course are expected to have a good understanding of at least one national tax system and the fundamentals of transfer pricing and tax treaties.

Continuing Professional Education (CPE)

International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of CPE on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors. State boards of accountancy have the final authority on the acceptance of individual courses for CPE credit. Issues regarding registered sponsors may be submitted to the National. Registry of CPE Sponsors through its website: www.nasbaregistry.org. Recommended NASBA CPE credits for this course are: 14

Please consult the FAQ for more information. Regarding administrative policies such as complaints, cancellations and refunds, please refer to our Terms and Conditions or contact info@ibfd.org.

Venue

This year's venue will be Ibmec, a private university.

Alameda Santos, 2356
Cerqueira César, São Paulo
SP, 01418-901, Brazil
+ 55 800 771 80 20

Accommodation

Please book your accommodation with a hotel of your choice directly. IBFD does not handle any hotel reservations.

Disclaimer

• After successful registration via IBFD webshop, you will receive a confirmation of registration along with an invoice from IBFD. 
• If registration and payment is done before or on 12 August 2024, participants will get a 10% discount on the initial price of 1700 USD and would need to pay only 1530 USD (both prices exclusive of VAT). 
• The programme of the masterclass is subject to minor changes, and IBFD reserves the right to apply changes to the line-up of speakers.
• IBFD reserves the right to cancel the masterclass due to low registrations. If the minimum number of participants is not met and IBFD decides to cancel the masterclass, we will inform participants by 23 August 2024 at the latest. In that unfortunate case, registered participants will receive a credit note by email at the email address provided and a full refund of the masterclass registration fee thereafter. In light of this, participants are kindly advised to make refundable travel and accommodation arrangements. Participants act at their own risk when booking non-refundable travel and accommodation arrangements, in the event that IBFD cancels the masterclass due to low registrations by 23 August 2024. IBFD is not responsible for any loss incurred by participants who book non-refundable travel and accommodation arrangements.
• All bookings related to travel and accommodation, as well as local transportation, visas, vaccinations and travel insurance are at the participant’s own cost.