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The Issue Of Beps Involving Interest Deductions And Other Financial Payments

Decent Essays

Countries have adopted a variety of approaches to address the issue of BEPS involving interest deductions and other financial payments. Some have implemented thin capitalisation legislation, which in this paper refers broadly to the rules limiting the deductibility of interest expenses and other financial payments with respect to the financial arrangements of MNEs (I). Some countries instead rely on, or have supplemented their thin capitalisation legislation with, other general tax law mechanisms providing for an increased taxation of the returns on debt (II). Other restrictions applicable to payments to tax havens entities or targeted anti-avoidance rules (TAAR) can similarly tackle this issue (III). In practice, the current trend is the application of a hybrid approach (IV).

I. Thin capitalisation legislation

In this essay, thin capitalisation legislation broadly refers to the general rules limiting the tax deductibility of interests and other financial payments. Such rules can take a variety of forms. On the one hand, some countries restrict relief on interest expenses either by an application of the arm’s length principle (A) or by limiting the amount of debt on which deductible financial payments are available through a safe harbour debt-to-equity ratio (B). On the other hand, several countries have adopted interest barrier rules (earning-stripping rules) to limit the amount of interest that may be deducted by reference to the ratio of interest to another variable

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