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Selected case notes and surveys in the fall 2025 are published. Enjoy reading!

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BEPS ACTION 13 IN NIGERIA COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY REPORTING: FROM GLOBAL STANDARDS TO DOMESTIC PRACTICE. SHAKUR SHAFA’ATU AMEEN The OECD/G20 BEPS Project marked a pivotal moment in global tax transparency, and Action 13 which ensures a Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) of global activities of large MNEs emerged as one of the foremost minimum standards. For developing countries, CbCR presented an opportunity to have more transparency on the activities of mu

Interest Limitation Rules: A Case Study and Policy Recommendation Dunyang Chen Interest limitation rules play a crucial role in international taxation, addressing the issue of thin capitalization. Thin capitalization occurs when companies use excessive debt financing to obtain additional interest deductions, thereby lowering their taxable base and potentially avoiding taxes. This practice is often referred to as “the problem of debt bias,” which can lead to non-funding neut

Uganda’s Digital Taxation: Balancing Source-Based Rights and Global Reform AHEEBWA ELIZABETH Introduction. Over the past decade, Uganda’s economy has experienced rapid digital transformation. Streaming platforms, online advertising, and e-commerce, have reshaped how Ugandans consume and interact economically. However, many of these service providers are non- resident and operate without a physical presence in Uganda. This created a gap in Uganda’s tax base, as traditional tax

Beneficial Ownership and the Missing Fiscally Transparent Entity Rule in China’s Announcement No. 9: A Comparative Glance with EU Practice/ Le Li China’s Announcement No. 9 (2018) on beneficial ownership (“BO”) represents a major step in codifying anti-treaty-shopping rules in the Chinese treaty network. It refines the concept of “beneficial owner” through a multifactor test (business substance, functions, assets, risks, holding period, etc.) and empowers tax authorities to d

Case Analysis on the non-discrimination article in tax treaty Li Bin My presentation is about a case. Case fact The main case fact is as follow. A Italy parent company wholly owned a subsidiarycompany, and the subsidiary hold 33% share of a Chinese company. And the parent company merged the subsidiary, and eventually the ownership of the Chinese companychanged, so the Chinese tax authority informed the parent company that it was liabletopay income tax in China, since the

Introduction to China’s CFC Rules/Xiaoyi XIE As an anti-tax avoidance regulation, the Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules primarily aim to prevent resident enterprises or individuals in China from retaining profits in low-tax or no-tax jurisdictions through overseas entities, thereby evading their tax obligations. China introduced the CFC rules since 2007, but it was not until 2012 that the first CFC case emerged. ACo is a Shandong company, which has a subsidiary, BCo, in

Uganda's Implementation of AEOI and Its Role in Enhancing Tax Transparency/ABAHO ALBERT INTRODUCTION The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) represents a major shift in global tax cooperation, fundamentally transforming how countries address cross-border tax evasion. Uganda's strategic implementation of AEOI demonstrates how developing nations can effectively leverage international tax transparency frameworks to enhance domestic revenue mobilization. This paper ex

A Simple Research about the Internal Logic behind China’s Special Tax Treatment for Cross-Border Corporate Restructurings /Yu Bingqing This report focuses on analyzing the internal logic behind the special tax treatment for cross-border corporate restructurings in Circular [2009] 59, which ranges from relaxed to strict control as it moves from purely foreign, to semi-foreign, to purely domestic restructurings, based on "tax sovereignty risk." The report also compares key poin

The Substantive Operation Standards in China’s Hainan Free Trade Port: Development, Application, and Effectiveness /Zheng Xinyue 1. Introduction The development of tax incentives and anti-avoidance rules in Hainan Free Trade Port (FTP) reflects China’s aim to build a competitive free trade and investment hub while strengthening regulatory oversight. Since its launch in 2018, Hainan has sought to attract multinational enterprises, develop high-tech and modern service indu

Research on the Standards of Reasonable Commercial Purposein Indirect Equity Transfers by Non-Resident Enterprises Liu Yujie With the boom in cross-border investment, indirect equity transfers by non-resident enterprises have become a common way to avoid tax, which evades the corporate tax obligations, andreasonable commercial purpose is the core threshold for tax authorities to regulate suchtransactions. Announcement No. 7 published by China’s STA in 2015 is currently one

Permanent Establishment Risk for Foreign Limited Partners in China’s QFLP Structure Bao, Xuan China’s Qualified Foreign Limited Partnership (QFLP) regime has become a central channel for bringing foreign private equity and venture capital into the domestic market. By allowing foreign investors to participate in onshore projects through a limited partnership structure, the framework supports China’s broader strategy of financial opening. Yet one of the most significant

MITIGATING THE CHALLENGES OF THE DIGITAL ECONOMY AND CLOSING THE GAPS -A NIGERIAN PERSPECTIVE KAKURI BASHIR MOHAMMED The digital economy in Nigeria is a dynamic and rapidly evolving sector that holds immense promise for the country’s economic growth and social development. My interest in this topic is deeply personal and professional. As a Nigerian engaged with the digital transformation landscape, I have witnessed how technological advances are reshaping livelihoods, cr

CRYPTO TAXATION AND INFORMATION EXCHANGE: ALIGNING NIGERIA’S FISCAL POLICIES WITH THE OECD’S CARF STANDARDS /STEPHEN DAZI HOKE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY This paper attempts to examines how Nigeria addresses the rapid rise of cryptocurrencies and blockchain assets especially in relation to how it has transformed global finance by ushering in new avenues for investment and cross-border transactions. To address global risk such as tax evasion, the Organisation for Economic Co-opera

CHINESE APPLICATION OF THE FOREIGN INCOME CREDIT METHOD OF ENTERPRISE INCOME TAX/ Shouyuan Sui Most countries tax their residents on their worldwide income and nonresidents only on their domestic source income. Consequently, foreign source income earned by a resident of a country may be taxed both by the country in which the income is earned (the source country) and by the country in which the taxpayer is resident (the residence country). Three methods—the deduction method,

CASE C-292/16 PROCEEDINGS BROUGHT BY A OY BASHIR MOHAMMED KAKURI Introduction The preliminary ruling in Case C-292/16, Proceedings brought by A Oy, delivered by the Court of Justice of the European Union (the "Court" or "CJEU") on 18 October 2017, provides a seminal interpretation of the freedom of establishment in the context of cross-border corporate reorganizations. The case sits at the complex intersection of national fiscal sovereignty and the objectives of the EU's Me

Case Note Case C‑110/17 – European Commission v Kingdom of Belgium Dunyang Chen The Case Introduction Belgium’s Income Tax Code 1992 (ITC 92) stipulates that the income calculation method for immovable property that is not rented out or rented to natural persons not using it for professional purposes or to legal persons providing it to natural persons for private use varies depending on whether the property is located within Belgium or abroad: Immovable property within Be

CASE C 480/16 – FIDELITY FUNDS AND OTHERS VS. SKATTEMINISTERIET STEPHEN DAZI HOKE BACKGROUND OF THE CASE: The dispute centres on whether Denmark’s withholding tax (WHT) regime unlawfully discriminated against non-resident investment funds, thereby restricting the free movement of capital under Article 63 TFEU. Luxembourg UCITS the Applicants in this case received a Danish sourced dividends which were automatically subject to WHT, whereas comparable Danish investment f

Case Note of C-788/18 – Stanleyparma Sas di Cantarelli Pietro & C., Stanleybet Malta Ltd v Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli UM Emilia Romagna – SOT Parma/ Yu Bingqing 1.A fundamental freedom involved (what) ：Free movement of services under Article 56 TFEU. The reason this case involves the free movement of services is that there is a cross-border element, primarily concerning an Italian intermediary providing gambling data transmission services for a Maltese bookmaker. The

Case Note: C-382/16 Case Note: C-382/16 Hornbach-Baumarkt AG v Finanzamt Landau / Zheng Xinyue 1. Facts and Legal Background This case concerns the compatibility of Germany’s transfer-pricing adjustment rule under Paragraph 1 of the Außensteuergesetz (AStG) with the freedom of establishment under Articles 49 and 54 TFEU. The Applicant, German retail group Hornbach-Baumarkt AG, is the parent company of two Dutch subsidiaries, and the Defendant is Finanzamt Landau, the Ger