Co-Ordination of Corporate Exit Taxation in the Internal Market and Beyond
Corporate exit taxation is an important obstacle to the deepening of economic integration within the internal market and beyond, as it distorts cross-border business activities of multinational enterprises and hinders cross-border business reorganisations. This article argues that the problems related to corporate exit taxation can only be addressed in a satisfactory way through co-ordination. It describes how a co-ordinated corporate exit taxation regime should be designed and how it could be implemented within the EU, in the context of a common corporate tax base or through a targeted harmonisation measure, as well as outside the EU in Double Taxation Conventions.
Losing out at the Snooker Table. Cross-Border Loss Compensation for PEs and the Fundamental Freedoms
When a taxpayer makes two investments, he or she has the option to choose different states for these investments or to concentrate these investments within a single state. In the latter situation, profits and losses will be set off against each other under the jurisdiction of a single state. In the first situation, however, the tax laws of the Member States of the European Union do not allow for compensation in all relevant cases. Neither will the source state be prepared to grant loss compensation for losses incurred in the home state of the taxpayer nor will the home state (at least in some cases) be prepared to grant compensation for loss suffered abroad. This mutual denial of loss compensation leads to a legal framework where economic agents within the European Union are inclined to concentrate all of their investment in one single Member State in order to share the downside risk of their investments with the tax authorities. The article examines this “compartmentalization” of the Internal Market in the light of the fundamental freedoms under EC law. It outlines that independent of which income tax system a Member States follows – whether the “ability-to-pay” principle or the “benefit” principle – any distinction between domestic and foreign income (including losses) is artificial and requires justification if it leads to disadvantageous treatment of cross-border situations. As a systematic scrutiny of fundamental tax policies and ECJ judicature reveals, such justification can neither be derived from the “territoriality” of taxation as such nor from the necessity of a “balanced allocation of taxing powers” nor from the claim to secure the “cohesion” of a given tax system. Instead, the Internal Market forces Member States to treat foreign losses in the same way as domestic losses. This holds true both for the home state and the host state. As far as this situation induces taxpayers to enjoy the best of both worlds and engage in “double dipping”, Member States are allowed to claw back loss deductions by so called “recapture” provisions once the relevant investment becomes profitable in ensuing fiscal years.
Direct conversion pulsed UWB transceiver architecture
Ultra-wideband (UWB) communication is an emerging wireless technology that promises high data rates over short distances and precise locationing. The large available bandwidth and the constraint of a maximum power spectral density drives a unique set of system challenges. This paper addresses these challenges using two UWB transceivers and a discrete prototype platform.