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Towards a Level Playing Field: Equality and the Choice of the Legal Form of a Business

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Towards a Level Playing Field: Equality and the Choice of the Legal Form of a Business is Towards a level playing field: Equality and the choice of the legal form of a business The principle of equality in taxation Corporate versus non-corporate entities & Permanent establishment versus subsidiary Sandra Wijnen Towards a level playing field: Equality and the choice of the legal form of a business The principle of equality in taxation Corporate versus non-corporate entities & Permanent establishment versus subsidiary Tilburg, 20 May 2010 Sandra Wijnen ANR: 368680 Tilburg University Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Department Fiscal Economics Examination board: Dhr. drs. C.A.T. Peters Dhr. prof. dr. P.H.J. Essers Dhr. prof. mr. E.C.C.M. Kemmeren 2 Preface Preface In the course of the academic study of Fiscal Economics at Tilburg University an extensive range of fiscal topics has come across. Upon the eve of writing and completing the Master Thesis, I had to decide my preference for a subject and for a specific project, based upon the previous four years of studying Fiscal Economics. Participating in EUCOTAX Wintercourse in combination with a broad fiscal subject soon became the choice. During preparations for Wintercourse I became familiar with the wide scope of the principle of equality in different law systems, relating them to the Dutch tax system in the light of the choice of the legal form. More importantly, during Wintercourse I learned that equality, or inequality, can imply so many different things. Discussing EUCOTAX Country‟s tax law systems, ventilating opinions on how to cooperate, thinking about boundaries and free competition in the global market, certain similarities but even more so certain differences became clear. The playing field can therefore never be seen from only one perspective. Right and wrong, equal and unequal are hard to point out. This great experience has taught me many things that go far beyond our tax law systems. While finishing this thesis in the Netherlands, it was not that easy to select a feasible amount of information from Wintercourse to incorporate in this thesis. The relatively small amount of available information incorporated in this thesis however shows a fascinating range of perspectives, national legislations and possible approaches to tax related topics. So many other things can additionally be described and evaluated when thinking of alternative ways to approach these tax related topics. Therefore I know our research is not quite done yet and Wintercourse will continue to be a valuable contribution to that research. Even though I wrote this thesis, a great number of people have contributed to reaching the end result. For that reason I would like to thank those people. Firstly my thesis supervisor, mr. Cees Peters, for discussing this thesis with me and advising wherever needed. Secondly the other Wintercourse supervisors, mr. Essers, mr. Kemmeren, mr. Peeters and mr. Smit, for their valuable comments during our meetings. And at last I would like to thank my TOBAAO colleagues from Deloitte Breda, in whose presence I have written this thesis. Our discussions and your feedback have helped me in the process of writing. Now all that remains for me is to wish you lots of reading pleasure. May 2010 Sandra Wijnen 3 Table of contents Table of contents Preface .................................................................................................................................................... 3 List of abbreviations ............................................................................................................................. 6 1. Introduction ....................................................................................................................................... 8 1.1 Introduction: Equality and the legal form of a business ............................................................... 8 1.2 Research questions ....................................................................................................................... 9 1.3 Demarcation ................................................................................................................................ 10 1.4 Methodology ............................................................................................................................... 10 2 The principle of equality and non-discrimination principle ........................................................ 12 2.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 12 2.2 The principle of equality in Dutch constitutional law ................................................................ 12 2.2.1 The principle of equality ..................................................................................................... 13 2.2.2 Ban on judicial review......................................................................................................... 14 2.2.3 Article 94 Constitution ........................................................................................................ 16 2.3 The principle of equality in European law.................................................................................. 17 2.3.1 Article 49 TFEU .................................................................................................................. 18 2.3.2 Case law on the freedom of establishment .......................................................................... 20 2.4 The non-discrimination principle in WTO law ........................................................................... 21 2.4.1 Most-favoured nation treatment .......................................................................................... 21 2.4.2 National treatment rule and free market access ................................................................... 22 2.5 The non-discrimination principle in tax treaties ......................................................................... 24 2.6 The principle of equality and non-discrimination principle ....................................................... 26 3. Corporate versus non-corporate entities ...................................................................................... 28 3.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 28 3.2 Qualification of entities .............................................................................................................. 28 3.2.1 Domestic entities ................................................................................................................. 29 3.2.2 Choice? ................................................................................................................................ 31 3.2.3 Foreign entities .................................................................................................................... 32 3.3 Double (non-)taxation due to different qualifications ................................................................ 35 3.4 Evaluation: equality and different qualifications ........................................................................ 37 3.4.1 Constitutional law ............................................................................................................... 38 3.4.2 European law ....................................................................................................................... 38 3.4.3 WTO law ............................................................................................................................. 39 3.4.4 Tax treaties (OECD-MC) .................................................................................................... 39 3.5 Taxation of entities ..................................................................................................................... 40 3.5.1 Entities subject to CITA ...................................................................................................... 40 3.5.2 Taxation of (non-)corporate entities .................................................................................... 42 3.5.3 Overview ............................................................................................................................. 44 3.6 Evaluation: equality and taxation of entities............................................................................... 44 3.6.1 Constitutional law ............................................................................................................... 45 3.6.2 European law ....................................................................................................................... 46 3.6.3 WTO law ............................................................................................................................. 46 3.6.4 Tax treaties (OECD-MC) .................................................................................................... 47 3.7 Neutral income tax regarding (non-)corporate entities ............................................................... 47 3.8 Conclusion on qualification and taxation of (non-)corporate entities ........................................ 50 4. Permanent establishment versus subsidiary ................................................................................. 53 4.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 53 4.1.1 Permanent
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