Tuesday, May 9, 2023
IFA International Writing Award for Tax Students 2022; Call for participants in the 2023 competition
The winner of the International Taxation Student Writing Contest 2022 of the International Fiscal Association is:
neil kelliher (Virginia), Improve transfer pricing litigation by aligning Section 482 with litigator incentives, 52 Tax management. International J. __ (2023).
Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Mason
The Section 482 regulations create a comprehensive system for regulating transfer pricing. But litigation related to these regulations often leads to unsatisfactory results. This problem can be linked to the idea that section 482 regulations are apparently written to be enforced by a disinterested third party, whereas transfer pricing disputes necessarily pit the IRS against a multinational entity.
This contradictory context exposes the weaknesses of the regulations: the very flexibility that allows regulations to find the best possible price for a transaction can create indeterminacy that lengthens and complicates litigation.
In this document, I propose three changes to section 482 and its regulations to account for the disparate incentives for litigants. First, I propose to strengthen the comparability requirements for the comparable uncontrolled transactions method. Second, I propose updating the best method rule to require mandatory robustness checks for transactions involving intangibles. And third, I propose the derogation of the judges’ ability to implement their own method when they are not convinced that either party’s method satisfies the best method rule. Each of these proposals will strengthen the existing transfer pricing regime and help ensure efficient and predictable litigation.
IFA International Tax Student Writing Contest 2023
Subject: Any subject related to US taxation of income from international activities, including taxation under US tax treaties.
open to: All students during the 2022-23 academic year (including independent study and 2023 summer school courses) seeking a graduate degree (JD, LLM, SJD, MST, MTA, Master of Taxation, or similar program) . Any appropriate documents written in Fall 2022 or Spring and Summer 2023.
submission deadline: September 30, 2023.
Prize: $5,000 in cash, plus an invitation with expenses paid to the annual meeting of the IFA USA branch to be held in 2024 for the winner of the competition and the sponsor of the faculty. The prize winner and the contest winner’s academic institution will each receive a one-year membership to the IFA USA branch. See member benefits HERE.
These are the recent winners:
- 2021: Mohanad Salaimi (Michigan), Corporate Investments: Jumping on the Tax Reform Bandwagon Before It Leaves the Station41 Goes Tax Rev. __ (2022)
- 2021: Nory Dianne R. Miano (Georgetown), Debt Financing vs. Equity and Business Taxes in a Post-BEPS/Anti-Tax Avoidance/Corona World Directive, 51 BNA Tax Management. International J.1 (2022)
- 2020: Shay Moyal (SJD 2020, Michigan; Davis Polk & Wardwell, New York), Don’t stop the beat166 Fiscal Notes Fed. 721 (February 3, 2020)
- 2019: David Rubin (Virginia), EB OR NOT EB? That is the question that the Treasury must answer after Brexit, 49 BNA Tax Management. International J.1 (2020)
- 2018: Ivan Ozawa Ozai (LL.B. 2019, McGill), Tax competition and the ethics of burden sharing42 Fordham Int’l J. 61 (2018).
- 2017: David Maranjian (JD 2017, Virginia), What’s in a name? XILINX, ALTERA and why using “arm’s length” as a mixed bag is causing trouble for Treasury, 47 BNA Tax Management. International J.___ (2018)
- 2016: Amanda Kazacos (LL.M. 2016, NYU), BEPS Action 6: Primary Purpose Evidence Reviewand Amanda M. Leon (JD 2016, University of Virginia), If the Commission launches a “LOB” at the Court of Justice of the European Union, will it strike again? Reconsidering the case law of the European Court of Justice regarding limitation of benefits clauses in bilateral tax treaties and why it should matter to the United States.
- 2015: Sienna Carly White (JD 2015, Notre Dame), Cost-sharing agreements and the arm’s length standard: a matter of legal interpretation?19 Florida Tax Review 191 (2016).
- 2014: Mateusz M. Krauze (LL.M. 2014, Harvard), Impact of cloud computing on permanent establishments under the OECD Model Tax Convention44 TM Int’l J. 44 (2015).
- 2013: Benjamin B. Vick (JD 2013, Boston University), Transfers of Intangibles between Related Parties: Standards and Recommendations to Combat International Transfer Pricing Abuses43 TM Int’l J. 207 (2014).
- 2012: Assaf Prussak (SJD candidate, Michigan), 21st century revenue: online advertising as a case study of the implications of technology for source-based taxation, Jul 16 J. Technology. and Intel. Shore up. (2013).
- 2011: Bradford Craig (JD 2012, Temple), Congress, Have a Heart: Practical Solutions to the Punitive Measures Plaguing the Heart Act Expatriate Inheritance Tax, 26 seasons Int’l & Comp. LJ 69 (2012).
- 2010: Kevin L. Preslan (2011 JD, Cleveland State), Turnabout is Fair Play: US response to Mexico’s request for bank account information, 1 Global Bus. L. Rev. 203 (2011).
- 2009: Samuel J Lee (LL.M. 2009, Boston University), A recommendation, in light of the current economy, to review the way § 304 applies to international transactions, 38 Tax management. Int’l J. 500 (August 2009).
- 2008: Jason Sullivan (LL.M. 2008, Florida), Hybrid Debt-Equity Instruments in a Cross-Border Environment: A Focus on the US Foreign Tax Credit.53 Tax Notes Int’l 817 (March 2, 2009).
https://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2023/05/2022-ifa-international-tax-student-writing-award-call-for-entrants-in-2023-competition.html