COVID-19 and Fiscal Policies: Unnecessary and Yet Harmful: Some Critical Remarks to the OECD Note on the Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Tax Treaties.

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has restricted freedom of movement and imposed forced, or at least unplanned, displacement. Insofar as the International Tax Regime continues to be based on the physical presence of individuals, this has led to unexpected and often undesirable tax consequences. The reaction of the OECD Secretariat to this situation has been to issue a note claiming, in essence, that everything remains the same. This article critically approaches that note by exposing its general methodological flaws and analysing each of the four specific aspects to which it refers: Permanent Establishments (PEs), Place of Effective Management (POEM), Cross-Border Workers and Residence of Individuals. Double taxation conventions, COVID-19, residence, permanent establishment, agents, services-permanent establishment, place of effective management, cross-border workers, tie-breaker rules.