David Rosenbloom Comments on U.S. Model Tax Treaty Proposals

Tax Notes Today quoted H. David Rosenbloom concerning proposed changes to the U.S. model tax treaty, which was last updated in 2006. The Treasury is planning an entire update of the model, but released the proposals on selected changes in hopes of influencing the ongoing work of the OECD's Base Erosion and Profit-Shifting (BEPS) project. For the complete article, please visit Tax Notes Today's website (subscription required). For additional information, please view Caplin & Drysdale's International Tax Client Alert.

Excerpt taken from the article "Model Treaty Proposals Reflect Dramatic Change in U.S. Policy" by Kristen A. Parillo for Tax Notes Today.

Some Welcome and Not-So-Welcome Changes

H. David Rosenbloom of Caplin & Drysdale Chtd. said his overarching concern is that Treasury has released proposed changes to the model in a piecemeal fashion. "Republishing the entire model is better because it forces the draftspeople to think about how everything fits together," he said.

The inclusion of new, unexplained terms -- such as "from the other Contracting State," "permanent establishment . . . situated in a third state," and "connected person" -- is "capable of causing trouble," Rosenbloom said.

"There are some other technical quibbles, but my other major point is that I believe a more thoroughgoing rethink of U.S. treaty policy would be desirable," Rosenbloom said.