In 2013, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) launched its base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project to inhibit aggressive international tax planning. Action 1 of the BEPS project requires the OECD to identify the main challenges that the digital economy poses...

This article surveys the evolution of the discussion on tax and digitalization between 1996 and 2018, analysing the shifts in thinking over this period and their impact going forward. Particular attention is given to four themes that emerge in this discussion. These are the changes in thinking...

This paper outlines the core issues of the introduction of a new PE nexus based on digital presence. It puts forward its essential features and rethinks the foundations of the concept of sourcing for income tax purposes in the global economy. Our proposal of a new PE nexus based on digital...

Before COVID-19 arrived, policymakers from around the world were busy working on the makings of a new global tax consensus to reflect structural changes in the world economy as a result of the rise of digitalization. COVID-19 disrupted this process by delivering a shock that resulted in major...

The question of why and how to tax the digitalized economy has been at the top of the international tax policy debate since the inception of the BEPS Action Plan in 2013. Over the years, a number of approaches have been discussed, including far-reaching proposals to fully or partially...

The Unified Approach issued by the OECD Secretariat on Oct 9, 2019, is the OECD's most recent attempt to find international consensus on BEPS Action Item 1, “Taxing the Digital Economy.” Our assessment is that the Pillar One proposals in the Unified Approach suffer from several defects, the...

This paper outlines the core issues of the introduction of a new PE nexus based on digital presence. It puts forward its essential features and rethinks the foundations of the concept of sourcing for income tax purposes in the global economy. Our proposal of a new PE nexus based on digital...

The digitalization of the economy is considered as a key driver of innovation, economic growth and societal change, and is a major challenge for the international tax system. The OECD has addressed this challenge in its extensive Action 1 Final Report as part of its base erosion and profit...

In its strongest statement yet on progressive tax reform, the UN has recently called on countries to introduce a global carbon tax and financial transaction tax (FTT). In my recent article entitled Global Taxation of Cross Border E-commerce Income (31 Virginia Tax Review 639 (Spring 2012)), I...