Treść książki
Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
2.Insearchofadefnition
29
Bethatasitmay,itissafetoassumethatinviewoftheunsystematic
andunrulyusageofthetermutaxavoidance”,thedefinitionherepro-
posedisnotpurelydescriptive:itisclarifying(partlystipulative).
2.Insearchofadefnition
2.1.Threecriteriaoftaxavoidance
Primafacie,aphenomenologicalandinductiveanalysisoflegalpro-
visionscounteringtaxavoidance,inparticularGAARs,revealsthree
mainfeaturesoftaxavoidance.Inbroadlines,taxavoidanceistypi-
callyunderstoodasacourseofaction–constitutedbyatransactionor
aseriesoftransactions–which:
–defeatsuobjectandpurpose”oftheapplicabletaxlaw(uspirit”,
ratiolegis,etc.);
–isartificial(non-genuine,notreflectingbusinessreality,contrived,
convoluted,overlycomplicated,etc.);
–iscarriedoutforthepurposeofobtainingataxadvantage(thepur-
poseisusuallyqualified,e.g.as”sole”,umain”,uprincipal”,etc.).
Afurthercriterion,whichistypicallyincluded,istheactualobtain-
ingoftaxadvantage(taxbenefit)byataxpayer.Itisnotherediscussed
separately,asataxarrangementwillbecometheobjectoftaxadmini-
stration’sinterestwherethetaxbenefitisobtainedbyataxpayer,so
inmostconceivablecasesthiscriterionistriviallysatisfied(andinter-
twinedwiththethirdoftheabove-mentioned).
TeabovecriteriaaretypicallyusedinGAARs,e.g.inthemodel
GAARincludedinArticle6oftheATADirectiveorinGAARsinmany
domesticjurisdictions.7Specificexampleswillbeprovidedbelow.
Asitwillbeassumedthroughoutthisbook,thecrucial(central)feature
oftaxavoidanceisthatitdefeatsthepurposeofthelaw.
7SeeM.Langetal.(eds.),GAARs–AKeyElement…,passim;F
.Vanistendael,IsTax
AvoidancetheSameTingundertheOECDBaseErosionandProftShifingActionPlan,
NationalTaxLaw,andEULaw?,BulletinforInternationalTaxation2016,Vol.70,Issue3,
pp.164-166.