Anti-Abuse Rules in International Tax Law and their Interactions

1. Introduction

This section delves into significant revisions within the OECD Model concerning dividend taxation under Article 10(2)(a) and capital gains under Article 13(4) influenced by the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan 6. S. 286Originally, Article 10(2)(a) allowed a 5 % tax rate on dividends if the recipient company held at least 25 % of the dividend-paying company’s capital without specifying a holding period. The 2017 update introduced a crucial amendment requiring a 365-day shareholding period to qualify for this rate, aiming to prevent short-term strategies for tax benefits. Similarly, Article 13(4) initially taxed gains from shares or comparable interests based on their immovable property value without considering timing. The 2017 revision added a 365-day look-back period and extended the provision to cover interests beyond shares, aiming to prevent abuse and ensure consistent tax treatment.

The focus of this thesis is to explore the concept and application of minimum holding periods under double taxation treaties (DTTs) and their interaction with other anti-abuse rules answering the research question “How do minimum holding periods stipulated in Artic...