Transatlantic Tax Forum

In recent years, the European Commission has ordered EU Member States to recover millions of euros from companies that had received State support in the form of preferential tax treatment, mostly granted by means of advance tax rulings and in some cases connected with unintended tax advantages arising from the exploitation of cross-border tax disparities. The issuing of such orders constituted the first major bulk of procedures enforcing the prohibition of State aids in tax matters and affecting mainly (though not exclusively) US multinational enterprises.

The decisions by the EU Commission may significantly alter the legal framework within which such companies have originally invested in the European Union. Yet, they may be required in order to secure the effective protection of free competition for all players within the EU internal market. Until the completion of such procedures before the European Courts, legal uncertainty will affect business taxation in the European Union and the relations with the US multinational enterprises. Insofar as the Courts decide for the recovery of illegal tax State aid, one might wonder whether some issues would arise from the perspective of the impact on the applicable US Friendship and Commerce Agreements. Would this also be the starting point of a new era that significantly restricts the use of taxes for regulatory purposes in the European Union? Would it also indirectly lead the US to apply less permissive tax rules in respect of business carried out by US multinationals outside the US?

Speakers:

• Reuven Avi-Yonah – Irwin I. Cohn Professor of Law, University of Michigan
• Guglielmo Maisto – Professor of international and comparative tax law at the Università Cattolica di Piacenza and Founder Maisto e Associati
• Pasquale Pistone - Academic Chairman of IBFD, Jean Monnet ad personam Chair in European Tax Law and Policy at WU Vienna University of Economics and Business and Associate Professor of Tax Law at the University of Salerno
• Yariv Brauner – Hugh Culverhouse Eminent Scholar in Taxation, Levin College of Law, University of Florida
• Stephen E. Shay – Senior Lecturer at Harvard Law School
• Ana Paula Dourado – Professor of Tax Law and European Tax Law at the School of Law, University of Lisbon
• Joao Felix Pinto Nogueira – Adjunct of IBFD’s Academic Chairman
• Ricardo Garcia – Senior Research Associate IBFD
• Paolo Arginelli – Professor of EU Tax Law and Corporate Tax Law at Catholic University in Italy and Of Counsel at Maisto e Associati
• Cesare Silvani – Associate lawyer at Maisto e Associati
• Nir Fishbien – SJD candidate at the University of Michigan
• Pedro Schoueri – DIBT / Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU)
• Gianluca Mazzoni - S.J.D. Candidate at the University of Michigan