Death and gift taxes in a cross-border setting give rise to various potential problems, including double or multiple taxation, double or multiple non-taxation, discrimination and administrative difficulties. Nonetheless, virtually no prior publications have explored these issues thoroughly. How do the international and EU tax law mechanisms work with regard to death and gift taxes in practice? And how could they be optimised to address the potential problems in a more effective manner?
Taxation of cross-border inheritances and donations covers a pioneering study which examines these four core problems arising from cross-border death and gift taxes. The selection of these problems is justified by the two main points of reference selected in the study: the 1982 OECD Model Tax Convention for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on inheritances, estates and gifts (OECD IHTMTC), and the inheritance tax report of the European Commission's expert group, ‘Ways to tackle inheritance cross-border tax obstacles facing individuals within the EU’ from 2015.
Filling a critical void in research literature
Taxation of cross-border inheritances and donations fills a critical void in the research literature on death and gift taxes. The study includes up-to-date material for tax professionals, policymakers, academics and students, as well as members of the general public who want to deepen their understanding of topics such as:
- the problems of death and gift taxation in a cross-border setting
- how the international and EU law mechanisms in this area of law work in practice
- how the OECD IHTMTC can be improved
- how the CJ’s case law on EU inheritance and gift taxation has resulted in the so-called ‘negative harmonisation’ of death and gift taxes in the EU
- whether the ‘one inheritance – one inheritance tax’ concept suggested in the inheritance tax report can provide a holistic solution to the problems of death and gift taxation in the EU
