Germany’s New GAAR — ‘Generally Accepted Antiabuse Rule’?

It is more than just a rule. A statutory general antiabuserule is a statement — a statement of tax jurisdictions,whether the lawmaker or the judges are primarilyin charge of targeting the cases that lack bothsubstance and business reasons. Most countries in continentalEurope incorporated a GAAR in their taxcodes. Among common-law jurisdictions there is a tie.Canada and Australia have a GAAR; the United Statesand the United Kingdom do not. Just recently, JohnCullinane explained in the Financial Times why theUnited Kingdom does not need such a rule.1 Like theUnited States, the United Kingdom takes a ‘‘the judgesshall decide’’ approach.[...]