Taxation solutions for EU and non-EU countries

Thanks to EU funding, the 'EU taxation and third countries' (EUTC) project is bringing together researchers via secondments to contribute to the state of the art in international tax law.

To achieve this, various exchange activities such as discussions, workshops, round tables and talks are underway between researchers from Austria, Brazil, the Netherlands and South Africa. Researchers also have the option of setting up their own network and connecting with the international tax community.

The project is centred around four main research areas: income tax treaties; corporate tax consolidation regimes; new progress in tax treaties based on recent changes by international organisations on non-legally binding instruments concerning international tax; and the improvement of value-added tax (VAT) and general sales tax systems.

Through joint exchanges, researchers have gained valuable insight into European tax law issues from academics belonging to countries that are not part of the EU or members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Research findings have shown that various fruits and vegetables exempt from VAT in South Africa benefit the underprivileged. EU lessons leant in developing a system of fiscal federalism were identified for the East African Community, a regional intergovernmental organisation of the Republics of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania.

An international congress on tax governance is being organised and will be held at the Sao Paulo Law School in Brazil. Public tax authorities at local, national and EU levels from various Member States are expected to take part.

EUTC is shedding light on national tax laws as they relate to their foreign equivalents. Project outcomes will have important implications for the movement of capital between EU and non-EU countries.