Principal Purpose Test i gennemstrømningssituationer

Principal Purpose Test in conduit situations

Bech, Rasmus Alexander

4. semester

Jura, Kandidat

2018

59

Afhandlingen undersøger anvendelsen af Principal Purpose Test (PPT) i gennemstrømningssituationer ved betaling af udbytte, renter og royalties under dobbeltbeskatningsoverenskomster. Baggrunden er, at PPT som ny værnsregel blev indført i OECDs Modeloverenskomst 2017 og udbredes gennem det Multilaterale Instrument (MLI), samtidig med at beneficial owner-reglen består. Afhandlingen søger at afklare, hvilken værnsregel der er den relevante i sådanne situationer, om PPT er anvendelig i treaty shopping-arrangementer, og om PPT vil underkende de samme dispositioner som beneficial owner. Metoden er retsdogmatisk med udgangspunkt i OECDs Modeloverenskomst 2017, kommentarerne hertil, MLI og BEPS Action 6, kombineret med Alf Ross’ prognoseteori, da der endnu ikke foreligger retspraksis. Afgrænsningen omfatter PPT i relation til kildeskat på udbytter, renter og royalties og ser bort fra landevalg og alternative værnsregler som LOB. Afhandlingen gennemgår PPT’s objektive og subjektive elementer samt bestemmelsen om nægtelse af fordele og belyser samspillet med beneficial owner. På baggrund af analysen opstilles teser om, at PPT i høj grad vil blive den primære værnsregel i gennemstrømningssituationer, og at dens anvendelsesområde ikke fuldt ud overlapper beneficial owner, hvilket kan ændre vurderingen af treaty shopping fremadrettet.

This thesis examines the application of the Principal Purpose Test (PPT) in conduit situations involving payments of dividends, interest and royalties under double tax treaties. The context is that PPT, introduced as an anti-abuse rule in the OECD Model Tax Convention 2017 and implemented through the Multilateral Instrument (MLI), coexists with the long-standing beneficial owner rule. The thesis seeks to clarify which rule is relevant in such cases, whether PPT is usable against treaty shopping, and whether it will challenge the same arrangements as the beneficial owner requirement. The approach is doctrinal, based on the OECD Model 2017, its commentaries, the MLI and BEPS Action 6, combined with Alf Ross’s prognostic theory, as no case law is yet available. The study is limited to PPT in relation to withholding taxes on dividends, interest and royalties, and excludes country-specific ratification choices and alternative tools such as LOB. It analyzes PPT’s objective and subjective elements and the denial of benefits provision, and explores the interaction with the beneficial owner rule. Based on the analysis, the thesis advances theses that PPT will largely become the primary anti-abuse rule in conduit situations and that its scope does not fully overlap with beneficial owner, which may change the assessment of treaty shopping going forward.

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