Beneficial Ownership in Tax Law and Tax Treaties

Pablo A Hernández González-Barreda is lecturer in law at the Universidad Pontificia Comillas, Spain.

1. Introduction
2. Beneficial Ownership: From Conscience to Liberalism and Law
I. The Historical Evolution of Beneficial Ownership and Relation to Other Concepts
II. Beneficial Ownership Nowadays
III. Beneficial Ownership and the Tension between Ownership as a Strong Right and Beneficiary Rights as a
Flexible Matter
3. Beneficial Ownership in Tax Law
I. Ability to Pay, Allocation of Income and Beneficial Ownership
II. The Two Principles
III. What is Beneficial Ownership in Tax Law of Common Law Countries? A Set of Allocation Principles and Rules Balancing Substantive Law Ownership as a Primary Right to Income and Control Claimable before Court, and the Duty to Pay Taxes and Prevention of Avoidance
4. From Domestic Tax Law to Tax Treaties: How Beneficial Ownership Jumped from US and UK Tax Treaty Policy into the Worldwide Tax Treaty Network
I. US and UK Tax Treaty Policy Towards Intermediaries (1930–1977)
II. Crossing the Atlantic: From US Tax Treaty Policy to the UK
5. Changing Skin in the OECD Model: What do Intermediaries in Continental Law and Common Law have in Common?
I. The Wording and the 1977 OECD Original Meaning of the Terms
II. Broadening the Rule: Is Beneficial Ownership a GAAR under the 2003 Commentary?
III. Beneficial Ownership and Allocation of Income in Relation to Hybrid Vehicles
IV. Clarifying What has Always been there: The 2014 Changes to the Commentary
V. Beneficial Ownership and the Post-BEPS Era: New Rules and Conflicts between Beneficial Ownership and the PPT and LOB Tests
VI. The 2019 United Nations Update Draft
6. Beneficial Ownership and EU Law
I. Beneficial Ownership in the Interest and Royalties Directive: The Danish Cases
II. Beneficial Ownership in the Parent–Subsidiary Directive
III. The Directive of Administrative Cooperation and Beneficial Ownership
7. Beneficial Ownership in Exchange of Information for Tax Matters
I. International Instruments of Exchange of Information and Beneficial Ownership
II. Beneficial Ownership in Exchange of Information in EU Law
III. The UK Registers on Beneficial Ownership
IV. Data Protection, Privacy and Beneficial Ownership Registers: The Relevance of Beneficial Ownership in Exchange of Information for Allocation of Income
8. Final Remarks
I. Beneficial Ownership in Equity
II. Beneficial Ownership in Tax Law
III. Beneficial Ownership in Tax Treaties
IV. Beneficial Ownership in Exchange of Information for Tax Matters
V. Recommendations and Future of Beneficial Ownership