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Criminalisation of tax issues in Europe In recent years, there has been a steep increase in criminal proceedings for tax matters in some European countries, such as France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, with a potentially major impact on the way in which tax audits are managed as tax authorities m... Cyber lessons we can all learn from the ICO’s reprimand of BNT Given the number of cyber-attacks currently taking place, it’s always interesting to see what triggers a regulator to take action. The ICO’s recent reprimand to My Media World Ltd t/a Brand New Tube (‘BNT’) illustrates that a lack of regular pen testing, ... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions: perspectives across Europe In order to carry out a transaction, taxpayers are generally free to choose between different structures and tax regimes, and to choose the structure or regime which produces the lowest tax burden. But their freedom is constrained by anti-abuse rules or a... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Italy There are numerous specific anti-avoidance provisions (SAARs) and the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR), and the Italian tax authorities may recharacterize or disregard a transaction or series of transactions under the GAAR only if the tax benefits cannot be... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in France There are multiple purpose tests across different parts of the French corporate income tax legislation pursuant to which the French tax authority can challenge, recharacterise or disregard transactions or series of transactions. These range from general a... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in the Netherlands Within the Netherlands, there are various anti-abuse or anti-avoidance rules containing purpose tests. Most relevant within the context of dividend distributions seem to be the statutory general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) in the Dutch Dividend Withholding Tax... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Germany Germany has a general anti-abuse rule (GAAR) as well as other purpose tests under various specific anti-abuse rules (SAARs) in different parts of the legislation. One example of a SAAR would be the principal purpose test in the anti-treaty or directive sh... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in the UK In addition to the general anti-abuse rule (GAAR), numerous purpose tests are built into the UK tax code. Every time a new set of tax rules is introduced, they tend to be accompanied by at least one targeted anti-avoidance rule (TAAR), and these TAARs rel... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Portugal There are multiple purpose test provisions pursuant to which the Portuguese tax authorities can recharacterise or disregard a transaction or series of transactions, and there have been a number of recent cases applying these. Purpose tests Purpose tests i... Purpose tests in anti-abuse or anti-avoidance provisions in Spain The Spanish tax authorities can challenge transactions under purposes tests in the two different general anti-abuse rules (GAARs) as well as specific anti-abuse rules (SAARs) targeted at a provision or regime. GAARs Spain has two GAARs: conflict in the ap...