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| DROI2024-2 | International planning
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| Duration : | 20h Th |
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| Lecturer : | Guy Jorion |
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Language(s) of instruction :
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| French language |
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Organisation and examination :
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| Teaching in the second semester |
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Course contents :
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| - Course overview
The objective of this course is to review and then implement the principles of international taxation law and the mechanisms of all international taxation law. The theory will therefore be presented (interactively) with the objective of resolving practical cases of planning for corporate groups mainly but also for natural persons, in the international context (direct taxes).
- Topics covered
* Introduction
- Plurality of sources and hierarchy of norms: internal laws (taxation of worldwide income or principle of territoriality, unilateral methods to eliminate double taxation), double taxation conventions (direct taxes - indirect taxes), European directives.
- Review of the major concepts: free competition, permanent establishment, transparent entities (trust and foundation), fiscal consolidation, international mobility of executives (secondment or plurality of employers).
- The holding company (dividend flows and withholding of tax at source, capital gains).
* Interest flows (withheld at source and the rules of "thin-capitalisation"): intermediary company or finance branch, hybrid vehicles (known as "check-the-box" rule in US), hybrid instruments (swaps, options, repo, equity loans).
* Intellectual property and royalty streams (withheld at source and IP incentives).
* Cross-border mergers and fiscal consolidation in practice, national tax incentives, harmful tax competition and CFC rules (US, UK, Germany).
* Planning and implementation of certain tax conventions concluded by Belgium (US, Hong Kong); private equity (in particular GD), Treaty and Directives shopping, using losses within a group of companies, split payroll vs special regimes for foreign executives, case studies. |
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Learning outcomes of the course :
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| After completing the theoretical (12 hrs.) and practical (8 hrs.) components, the student will be able to understand encipher and critique international planning and to suggest alternatives.
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Prerequisites and co-requisites/ Recommended optional programme components :
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| Introductory course in tax law. Core course in the complementary Master's in tax law (in any case, income tax course - in-depth topics). European tax law course and international and comparative tax law course.
A basic knowledge of accountancy's principles is not a « must » but certainly a « plus » (i.e. the understanding of a balance sheet in order to calculate a debt/equity ratio, to understand the financial flows and the interco accounts at the level of the P&L account). |
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Planned learning activities and teaching methods :
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Mode of delivery (face-to-face ; distance-learning) :
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Recommended or required readings :
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| The language of instruction is French but the written documentation is in English, at least for use as an intermediary vehicle (PowerPoint presentations and on-line PDF documents). |
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Assessment methods and criteria :
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| Students will be assessed on their mastery of the international planning technique, from very simple to very complicated, and on their capacity to analyse, understand, encipher, critique and even propose a basic international tax plan, independent of the Belgian perspective in the matter.
They will be assessed too on their capacity to propose the interposition of a Special Purposes Vehicle - a Belgian one or a foreign one - into a multinational structure and to encipher the consequences thereof not only for the subsidiaries but also for the beneficial owner.
An open-book (texts of the principal tax conventions, tax code, course notes), written examination in each of the first and the second session (for the second session, subject to passing the first session, there is a possibility of a short debriefing at the end of the examination, on request). |
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Work placement(s) :
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Organizational remarks :
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| - Lectures (Presentation of theory illustrated with examples and practical cases)
- 5 sessions of 4 hours, Saturday mornings from 9am to 1pm. |
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Contacts :
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| Guy.Jorion@ulg.ac.be |
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| Items online : |
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| course items |
| All the course items are available on the HD campus |
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