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Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in the UK In addition to the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR), numerous purpose tests are built into the UK tax code. Every time a new set of tax rules is introduced, they tend to be accompanied by at least one targeted anti-avoidance rule (TAAR), and these TAARs rel... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Portugal There are multiple purpose test provisions pursuant to which the Portuguese tax authorities can recharacterise or disregard a transaction or series of transactions, and there have been a number of recent cases applying these. Purpose tests Purpose tests i... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Spain The Spanish tax authorities can challenge transactions under purposes tests in the two different general anti-abuse rules (GAARs) as well as specific anti-abuse rules (SAARs) targeted at a provision or regime. GAARs Spain has two GAARs: conflict in the ap... Proposals for a single R&D tax regime: a death knell for the SME regime? Last week, HM Treasury released its Summary of Responses document to the consultation published earlier this year seeking views on the design of a single research and development (R&D) tax relief regime – or, in other words, the collapsing of the independ... Beneficial ownership: perspectives across Europe Across a number of European jurisdictions, relief from withholding tax may be denied where the recipient of a dividend, interest or royalty payment is not also the beneficial owner of the relevant payment. The test for determining whether the recipient qu... Beneficial ownership from an Italian perspective The Italian tax authorities continue to challenge interposed conduit entities using the beneficial ownership test to deny withholding tax reductions or exemptions under EU Directives and double tax treaties. In light of the CJEU’s decisions in the Danish ... Beneficial ownership from a French perspective Increasingly, the French tax authorities are making use of the beneficial ownership concept to deny withholding tax exemptions (or the application of a reduced rate of withholding tax) for dividends and royalties, either pursuant to domestic law or a doub... Beneficial ownership from a Dutch perspective In the Netherlands, the term beneficial owner can arguably have two different meanings: a domestic law meaning and a tax treaty law meaning. The domestic law meaning, which is relevant for granting an exemption from, or a reduction or refund of, Dutch div... Beneficial ownership from a German perspective In practice, the beneficial ownership test is most often applied in connection with dividend withholding taxes but may also be relevant in other areas of withholding tax relief. According to the German tax authorities, the substance test for the purposes ... Beneficial ownership from a UK perspective Beneficial ownership (or beneficial entitlement) concepts are used across the UK tax code in relation to domestic provisions as well as in the application of double tax treaties. Since the Court of Appeal’s decision in Indofood in 2006, the majority view ...