Overview

Where there is taxation, there is tax avoidance. Whether it is criminalised as 'evasion' or permitted as 'minimisation', it is clear that differences in economic development require a different approach to the problem on the part of taxation authorities. For developing countries, 'tool kit transplants' - often successful in their home countries - have usually proven ineffective. The author of this book first shows why developing countries need their own tailor-made anti-avoidance systems, and then describes the features of general anti-avoidance rules (GAAR) he deems relevant to developing countries, including the fastest routes, the paths that require caution, and the directions to avoid. The book describes anti-avoidance issues in three major developing nations - India, Brazil, and South Africa - and analyses all relevant case law pertaining to relatively successful GAARs in such developed jurisdictions as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Hong Kong, France and Spain. The book's comprehensive, comparative approach employs comparative tax law, based on analysis of more than 100 cases and over 500 legal references, as well as statutory legislation and administrative guidelines. The research questions proposed are the following: - Is tax avoidance a problem that calls for a legislative response in developing economies? - Would a GAAR be adequate to address this problem in developing economies? - Are there noteworthy differences between developing and developed countries' tax systems that suggest a tailor-made GAAR rather than a model or tool kit tax transplant? - What design lessons can developing countries learn from advanced economies that have experienced general anti-avoidance rules or doctrines? - Given that discretion and uncertainty are consequences of the introduction of a GAAR, how can this power be limited to provide a balance between protecting the tax base and safeguarding taxpayers? This is the first in-depth treatment of a subject that daily becomes more prominent as the major developing countries grow in economic power. With its clearly articulated safeguards and checks and balances and commitment to the rule of law, it is sure to play a significant role in the development of tax avoidance measures in the years to come.

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