Skattelypakken: en gennemgang af fordele og konsekvenser for selskaber og skattepligtige

Abstract

This thesis is related to the tax haven package the Danish parliament passed in the early summer 2015. The background for this package was the adoption of a new article in the parents/subsidiary directive. The article introduces a anti-abuse clause to tackle arrangements which are, in their entirety, not genuine, or where single steps or parts of an arrangement are, on a stand-alone basis, not genuine. As a member state Denmark have to bring this directive into force of a law, which resulted in the tax haven package. The Danish ministry of taxation found the adoption of the anti-abuse clause as an opportunity to include the anti-abuse clause in the interest/royalties directive and the mergers directive and for double taxation agreements. This was not well received by the different trade organisations, which believe it was harmful to the business’ cross-border trades and for foreign investments in Danish companies. Out of this issue this thesis will research how it afflicts the companies and if it has consequences for the level of foreign investments in Danish companies. This leads to the question how will the tax haven package’s tax proposals afflict the aggressive tax planning or will it create a tax wall for foreign investments. Another issue behind the tax haven package is the BEPS project regarding action 6 about the preventing the granting of treaty benefits inappropriate circumstances. The BEPS project is OECD’s new project to reform the international taxation system, as we know it. It dials with aggressive tax planning and tax planning strategies that exploit gaps in the architecture of the international tax system to artificially shift profits to places, where there is little or no economic activity or taxation. Regarding to action 6 it is necessary to explore how this will afflict the double taxation treaties Denmark has signed. The tax haven package also tax element like taxation of founders of trusts and valuation of assets in respect of binding answers. Issues regarding trusts are that trusts can be used in aggressive tax planning situations, where the founder establish a trust and still have access to the funds. In Danish tax law trusts or funds are considerate as transparent, when the founder still have access to the funds. This situation triggers a taxation of the founder according to the tax heaven package. The last element is the valuation of the assets in respect of binding answers. This afflicts to companies in situations, where the companies business include cross-border transactions. This tax planning issues are critical for a healthy taxation system. This is why this thesis looks at pro and cons regarding to the tax heavens package afflicts on the Danish companies