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ITC Leiden Summer course Brazil February 2017
to be held in São Paulo (Brazil) 
6–24 February 2017 (three weeks)

Overview of subjects and teachers    
(subject to change)   

Week 1 

Monday 6 February 2017
Fundamentals of international taxation 
First, we will explore why and how countries tax cross-border income and the double taxation that will typically result therefrom (juridical and economic double taxation). Next, the various methods to relieve juridical double taxation will be examined: both their operation and their advantages & disadvantages. Finally, a brief overview is presented of the types of relief countries may offer regarding of economic double taxation.
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad & Edgar Santos Gomes

Tuesday 7 February 2017 
Introduction to tax treaties & treaty residence 
The interaction between the distributive articles and the double taxation relief provisions will be examined and explained, along with the key concepts of residence and source. ‘Residence’ will be further examined in some detail.
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad & Gustavo Carmona Sanches 

Wednesday 8 February 2017 
Business profits 
The main topics of this comprehensive subject that will be visited include the contents and application of the distributive rules of OECD Model Article 7: the main rule and the exception if business is conducted through a `permanent establishment´ (PE) in the other state. Further, the concept of PE will be examined in some detail (physical PE, project PE, Agency PE; other non-OECD types of PE).
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad, Carlos Eduardo Toro & Paulo Bento   

Thursday 9 February 2017  
Dividends, interest & royalties;  immovable property income;  capital gains 
The tax treaty rules on investment income vary with the nature of the investment. Immovable property income is typically subject to ordinary taxation in the source country whereas income from intangible rights (shares, debts, intellectual property rights) is usually subject to flat-rate gross-basis taxation in the source country with the residence country taxing it again with a tax credit provided for the source country tax. The taxation of investment income gives rise to numerous theoretical and practical issues the most important ones of which will be touched upon in this day’s topic.
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad, Ana Carolina Monguilod & Rodrigo Brunelli Machado. 

Friday 10 February 2017 
Income from employment, pensions, etc. 
The grown mobility of labor has greatly increased the importance of OECD Model Articles 15 through 20, each of which deals with a particular type of service income. The main rules are laid down in Article 15 which gives rise to a variety of important issues in international tax practice. In addition to an analysis of some of these issues, other points arising under the rules on the remuneration of directors, pensions, and the income of artistes and sportsmen will be discussed.
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad, Chiara Bardini & Priscila Silva  

Week 2

Monday 13 February 2017
Five fundamental rules on tax treaty application & triangular cases 
The interaction between domestic tax law (on which a country’s actual taxation is based) and a tax treaty is quite particular, and in tax practice often gives rise to misunderstanding and mistakes. Today’s topic deals with this issue in a detailed and analytical fashion. The insight gained from this discussion is subsequently employed in analyzing how two or more tax treaties apply in triangular situations.
teachers: Prof. Kees van Raad, Carolina Landim & Chiara Bardini  

Tuesday 14 February 2017
Double Taxation Relief & Non-Discrimination
This session deals with the avoidance of double taxation and the non-discrimination provision. In the morning we will analyze the tax policy concepts behind the exemption and the credit method and compare the different results regarding the application of the two methods. Special emphasis is put on the treatment of cross-border losses and qualification conflicts. In the afternoon the different non-discrimination obligations will be compared with each other. We will discover how the non-discrimination provisions interact with the distributive rules and examine in which case taxpayers are in a similar situation. In the end we will discuss several triangular cases where we will combine non-discrimination issues with problems of double taxation relief.
Beneficial ownership and tax treaty anti-avoidance provisions 
The reduction of taxation of dividends, interest and royalties in the state of source is generally subject to the condition that the recipient of that income is the beneficial owner thereof. Although the term ‘beneficial owner’ was introduced in the OECD Model Convention in 1977, the interpretation of the term continues to give rise to difficulties. The background of the term and its interpretation in various countries will be the main topic of this lecture. In addition, other anti-avoidance provisions prevalent in tax treaties will be discussed in this lecture.
teachers: Ruben Gottberg & Fernando Tonanni  

Wednesday 15 February 2017  
Brazilian CFC Rules
Law 12,973/13 has brought a new set of rules for the calculation of Brazilian taxes on foreign profits.  This session shall discuss the main topics related to the new legislation and its interaction with OECD Model tax conventions.
teacher: Sergio Andre Rocha

Thursday 16 February 2017  
Transfer Pricing Issues
Transfer pricing is, today, one of the top priorities of tax practitioners and tax directors worldwide. The lecture aims at providing the audience with the fundamental elements to analyze transfer pricing issues. In addition specific issues will be dealt with and in particular the selection and application of transfer pricing methods. Particular emphasis will be placed on transactional profit methods. Further, transfer pricing issues related to intangible property and the analysis of intercompany financial transactions will be addressed. The lecture will comprise of practical examples and case studies.
teachers: Alexandre Siciliano & Eduardo Madeira  

Friday 17 February 2017 
Advanced issues on business profits taxation under tax treaties 
Under tax treaties, business profits are exclusively taxable in State where the taxpayer carrying on the business is resident. However, where the business is carried on in the other Contracting State through a permanent establishment, such a State is entitled to tax the profits attributable to the permanent establishment and the State of residence is required to relieve the resulting (juridical) double taxation. This approach of dividing taxing rights between the two treaty States implies two steps: (i) ascertaining the existence of a permanent establishment and (ii) determining the profits attributable to it. The latter step presents significant theoretical and practical issues, due to the somewhat puzzling wording of the treaty provisions on business profits. The purpose of this present lecture is to analyze these issues and to discuss the actions taken by the OECD in 2010 to tackle them
teachers: TBA

Week 3

Monday 20 February 2017
Introduction to the arm’s length principle and Traditional Transaction Methods
The arm’s length principle is the international standard set by the OECD to determine the transfer prices in intragroup situations. In the last decade, the new organizational models adopted by MNEs and the different kind of transactions arising led the OECD to launch new projects in order to fine-tune the 1995 Guidelines with the current economic scenario. This day will firstly focus on the milestones of the arm’s length principle, its recent developments, and why it is still, as confirmed by the recent OECD report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, an hot topic for MNEs. In the afternoon section, the application and the main characteristics of the traditional transaction methods will be addressed by under both a theoretical and practical perspective.
teachers: TBA 

Tuesday 21 February 2017 
Transactional Profit Methods
In the recent years, the OECD has performed several works in the field of transactional profit methods (i.e., Profit Split Method and Transactional Net Margin Method) due to the fact that such methods have been more and more selected by MNEs. In 2008 a discussion draft on this issue has been released, whose main contents have been implemented in the 2010 new revised version of Chapters I-III of the OECD ‘Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administration (“Guidelines”)’. The purpose of this lecture is to analyze in deep the main features of Transactional Net Margin Method and Profit Split method under both a theoretical and practical perspective by providing also case study where the application of the different profit level indicator and of the contribution and residual analysis will be addressed and the main issues arising from their application will be outlined.
teachers: TBA

Wednesday 22 February 2017
Intra-group services and economic analysis 
Economic Intra-group services and economic analysis Intra-group services are one of the issues that professionals are most often required to face nowadays in the transfer pricing field. Through an extensive set of examples, thus, the audience will be provided with the tools required to understand whether an intra-group service has been provided and – in that case – whether it has been charged at an arm’s length price.
The afternoon session will be focused on the use of financial statements for transfer pricing purposes and on the practice of searching for comparables. These topics will be explained through examples and practical activities, such as the computation of profit level indicators.
teachers: TBA

Thursday 23 February 2017
Intangible property and CCA
The morning class will be fully devoted to the analysis of the transfer pricing issues related to intangible property. This analysis will be carried out taking into considerations also the contents of the OECD discussion draft concerning the revision of Chapter VI of the OECD Guidelines, issued on June 2012. In addition, the class will cover also the major topic of the Cost Contribution Agreements (CCA). Reference will be made not only to the OECD documentation, but also to the works of the European Joint Transfer Pricing Forum (such as those concerning low value adding intra-group services and CCA on services not creating intangible property) and to publications and articles of the most authoritative commentators on this subject matter. Lecturers will enrich the explanations of these topics through an extensive set of examples drawn from their professional experience.
teachers: TBA

Friday 24 February 2017
Brazilian domestic application of Transfer pricing rules
Since they were introduced in Brazil, in 1996, the application of Transfer pricing rules showed very typical features. Despite initially inspired by the OECD guidelines, the Brazilian rules differ considerably from the international practice and are more adapted to the aspects of local taxation. The Brazilian methods and their application will be present and discussed in the morning class, including the new methods applicable to all transactions with commodities, as well as the application of transfer pricing rules to the very specific institute of CSA (Cost Sharing Arrangements) in Brazil. During the afternoon, we will discuss the main issues present in the litigation arena of Brazilian transfer pricing, since most – if not all – tax inspections of transfer pricing result in litigation cases. 
teachers: Alexandre Siciliano & TBA