Calgary Symposium

BEPS SYMPOSIUM

Presented jointly by International Fiscal Association (IFA) & Canadian Tax Foundation (CTF)

        

 

Thursday, February 12, 2015
Westin Calgary 
320 4 Ave SW

Thursday, February 12,  2015
7:00 am –
7:30 am 
Registration & Breakfast
Moderator:  Jason Durkin, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
7:30 am –
8:45 am
Treaty Shopping

Action 6―OECD September 2014 deliverable and further discussion draft on treaty abuse November 2014

  • Articles IV(6) and (7) of the Canada-US Tax Convention  and OECD proposal
  • Back-to-back loan rules: anti-treaty-shopping rule in a thin disguise? 
  • Status of the 2014 budget treaty-shopping proposal
  • 2014 update to OECD model commentaries: latest update to beneficial ownership commentary


Marja de Best,
Loyens & Loeff N.V., Netherlands
Michael Kandev,
Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP, Montreal
Stephanie Smith, Department of Finance, Ottawa
Peter van Dijk,
TD Bank Group, Toronto  

Moderator: Albert Baker, Deloitte LLP
8:45 am –
10:00 am
PE Status

  • Action 7―OECD October 31, 2014 discussion draft  
  • Commissionaire or similar arrangements
  • Specific activity exemptions
  • Attribution of profits to PEs


Jacques Sasseville,
Head of Tax Treaty Unit, OECD, Ottawa
Mitch Conaghan, SMART Technologies, Calgary
Jim Wilson, Gowling Lafleur Henderson LLP, Ottawa

10:00 am –
10:30 am
Refreshment Break
Moderator:  Patrick Marley, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP
10:30 am –
11:45 am
Interest

  • Action 4―OECD draft of December 2014
  • Lessons learned from prior Canadian proposals to limit the deduction of interest – the Mintz report, section 18.2 and the report of the Advisory Panel on Canada’s System of International Taxation
  • Interaction of proposal to limit interest deductions with possible changes to the CFC rules and hybrid rules


Brian Arnold, Canadian Tax Foundation, London
Michael O’Connor,
Sunlife Financial, Toronto
Anthony Strawson,
Felesky Flynn LLP, Calgary

11:45 am – 
1:00 pm
Lunch
Moderator: Robert Couzin, Couzin Taylor LLP, allied with Ernst & Young LLP
1:00 pm –
2:15 pm
Transfer Pricing, Risk, and Recharacterization

  • OECD September 2014 deliverables: Action 8 – Intangibles and Action 5 – Transparency and Substance
  • December 2014 discussion draft
  • Interaction with other transfer pricing proposals


Claire Kennedy, Bennett Jones LLP, Toronto
Emma Purdy, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, Toronto
Vance Sider, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Stamford, USA 

 
Moderator:  Brian Arnold, Canadian Tax Foundation
2:15 pm –
3:30 pm
Panel Discussion – Where to from here? 

  • Is unintentional double non-taxation a problem that really needs to be solved?
  • Is intentional double non-taxation acceptable?
  • Tax sparing and the treatment of less developed countries’ tax incentives
  • Does the tax community need to accept that there has been or will be a tectonic shift in international tax policy?  
  • Predictions for response in the US, UK, Switzerland, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Canada
  • Should there be a shift from residence to source country taxation
 


Robert Couzin,
Couzin Taylor LLP, allied with Ernst & Young LLP, Toronto
Marja de Best, Loyens & Loeff N.V., Netherlands
Jacques Sasseville, Head of Tax Treaty Unity, OECD, Ottawa
Vance Sider, Thomson Reuters Corporation, Stamford, USA 

3:30 pm – Summary and Wrap-up

Larry Chapman, FCPA, FCA, Executive Director and CEO, Canadian Tax Foundation