In What Way Does the Russian GAAR Comply With EU ATAD and BEPS Rules?

Sammanfattning: The issues of tackling aggressive tax planning are actual throughout the whole history of global market economy. Earlier this struggle was held by the states individually through imposing rules into their national legislation authorizing tax supervisory bodies to use new methods of control, establishing liability for tax evasion, and developing the approaches by judgements of the courts on relevant cases. The removal of administrative barriers, globalization processes in market economy and promotion of entrepreneurship, alongside with other measures that stimulate taxpayers to fulfill their tax obligations responsibly are affecting tax abuse. Today the intentions of the states to promote international tax cooperation and combat tax avoidance are reflected in General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) and special international agreements on tax issues Specific Anti-Avoidance Rules (SAAR), as well as coordination of efforts in the framework of international economic organizations (e.g. BEPS Action Plan developed in OECD). The Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (hereinafter - BEPS plan) was implemented to the Russian Tax Code in 2017 and greatly developed the existing level of anti-abusive approaches in the Russian tax law. The legal regime of taxation on profit and income in the Russian Federation is influenced by a number of factors including the internationalization of tax law. The implementation of OECD principles and regulation predetermined the recent development of national tax policy. These changes in Russian tax legislation were mostly due to the implementation of measures introduced by OECD and mainly by BEPS plan . Russia is an integral part of the world community and general problems in the field of taxation affect the Russian tax regime. As prescribed in the Russian Constitution Russia has the supremacy of the international law as international treaties are the integral part of the Russian legal system. And in case when the national rule is incompatible with the international treaty, the treaty shall prevail. The norms of supranational law and the norms enshrined in OECD acts affect the possibility of improving the Russian tax regime trough the implementation of these acts or through incorporation. The recent consolidation brought many novelties into the Tax Code of the Russian Federation : in particular the rules for taxation of controlled foreign companies, the rules of fine (insufficient) capitalization, the concept of beneficial ownership, criteria for tax residence of legal entities, ratification of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. These novelties are milestones of the present Russian tax policy at the present stage. On June 2017, the Russian Federation joined the OECD Multilateral Convention on implementation of measures relating to tax agreements in order to counteract the erosion of the tax base and withdraw profits from taxation , which contains mandatory provisions reflected in the final report of the BEPS Action plan.