taxing authority meaning

In this issue: Companies and corporation tax Employment taxes International Real estate tax Anti-avoidance Taxes management and litigation Daily and weekly news alerts New and updated content Dates for your diary Trackers Useful information Companies and corporation tax Supreme Court confirms Court of Appeal ruling: UK-Canada DTT conferred no UK taxing rights over the assigned payments (Royal Bank of Canada v HMRC) As outlined below, in Royal Bank of Canada [2025] UKSC 2, the Supreme Court rejected HMRC’s appeal and agreed with the Court of Appeal that Article 6 of the UK-Canada double tax treaty (DTT)—which grants taxing rights to the jurisdiction where the immovable property is located, in this instance an oil field—did not apply to the payments. The reason was that the right to exploit the UK oil field was held by Sulpetro (UK). The parent of Sulpetro (UK) (at first, Sulpetro and later BP after acquiring Sulpetro’s rights) only...

What is the revenue rule? The revenue rule is a broadly recognised principle: a nation’s courts will decline to give effect to the tax legislation of a different state. It is widely treated as a universal doctrine across jurisdictions. Why does this principle exist? At heart, it reflects a hesitation to permit state A to wield sovereign authority to levy taxes within the jurisdiction of state B’s courts. Lord Denning captured the spirit of the doctrine in Att-Gen of New Zealand v Ortiz [1984], observing: ‘No one has ever doubted that our courts will not entertain a suit brought by a foreign sovereign, directly or indirectly, to enforce the penal or revenue laws of that foreign state. We do not sit to collect taxes for another country or to inflict punishments for it.’ So, forget ‘take back control’: the judiciary would rather it had never been ceded in the first place. That judicial reticence keeps foreign fiscal claims at arm’s length. And how might this feed political friction? Every...

Global Voice Group SA v Republic of Guinea The February decision in Global Voice Group SA v Republic of Guinea bolsters Russia’s position that it never agreed to arbitrate Yukos lawsuit, which accused Russia of using sham tax-law allegations to break up the company, Russia stated in a notice of supplemental authority on 7 March 2025. In Global Voice, US District Judge Jia Cobb concluded court lacked jurisdiction to confirm a US$22m arbitral award against Guinea tied to a mechanism for taxing international telecommunications traffic, according to court filings...

CASE HUB ARCHIVED — this archived case hub captures the position as at the date of the judgment of 3 March 2020; it is no longer maintained. See further, the timeline and related/relevant cases Case facts Outline Case C-75/18 Vodafone Magyarország — a reference from Hungary seeking clarification on whether, among other tax matters, progressively taxing economically stronger undertakings amounts to unlawful State aid in favour of weaker undertakings Latest developments On 21 January 2020, the Court of Justice handed down its judgment Parties Vodafone Magyarország Mobil Távközlési Zrt. (Vodafone). Vodafone is a Hungarian public limited company. Its sole shareholder is Vodafone Europe BV, a company registered in the Netherlands Market Telecommunications Background to reference The matter stems from a tax audit of Vodafone covering 1 April 2011 to 31 March 2015. Following that audit, the Finanzverwaltung (the Hungarian tax authority) identified a tax shortfall of HUF 8.371m payable by Vodafone and consequently levied additional...

FORTHCOMING CHANGE relating to the UK funds regime : Following the government’s examination of the UK funds regime, proposals include continuing to monitor the tax treatment of the new long‑term asset fund structure (LTAF) (see News Analyses: Review of the UK funds regime—an analysis and HM Treasury’s review of the UK funds regime—a call for input). In tax parlance, ‘authorised investment fund’ (AIF) covers two vehicles: the authorised unit trust (AUT) and the open‑ended investment company (OEIC). Both AUTs and OEICs are forms of collective investment scheme, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. The label ‘AIF’, applying to both, appears in the Authorised Investment Funds (Tax) Regulations 2006, SI 2006/964, which set out the core tax rules for these funds. Within this subtopic, those provisions are called the ‘AIF Tax Regulations’. AUTs and OEICs sit within the wider category of collective investment schemes and must be authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority to operate. Be aware that ‘AIF’ in a tax sense (ie meaning ‘authorised...

Article 11 of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s model tax convention (MTC) is concerned with the taxation of interest paid cross border. It specifically addresses how taxing authority is divided between: the state of residence of the person receiving the payment (the recipient state), and the state of residence of the person making the payment (the source state) This Practice Note examines: the meaning of ‘interest’ in a double tax treaty or convention (DTT) context the model convention approach to the taxation of interest targeted anti-treaty shopping provisions variations on this approach in DTTs, and the practical contexts in which an assessment of the interest article will arise The EU Interest and Royalties Directive, which exempts from withholding tax all interest payments between associated companies of different Member States, and which was implemented into UK law, was repealed following the UK’s departure from the EU, with effect from 1...