Dr Benjamin Sevilla Bernabéu, member of the ETTICs research group of the Universitat de València, has published the monograph titled La elusión fiscal (Tax avoidance), in the Grandes Tratados collection of the Aranzadi publishing house.
The subject of this monograph is the analysis of the general anti-avoidance rules, which is not a trivial issue in the national, European and international tax context, the ultimate aim of which is to try to combat those tax avoidance practices which, in the search for more favourable taxation, end up circumventing the rules and undermining their purposes. The aim of this study is to make a specific and practical diagnosis of the general anti-avoidance rules, taking into account the jurisprudence of our courts, the pronouncements of the tax administration and the works of doctrine.
To this effect, this paper first analyses the problem from a national perspective, differentiating the general anti-avoidance rules that exist in the Spanish tax system and focusing on the elements and consequences arising form the application of each of them. This is followed by a review of work at EU level to combat tax avoidance, wiht particular reference to the anti-abuse rule introduced by the Anti Tax Avoidance Directive.
Lastly, the issue of circumvention will be analysed from an international perspective, focusing on the abuse of double tax treaties. In this context, the principal purpose test clause will be examined in detail as a general anti-abuse rule found in numerous double tax treaties following its adoption as a minimum standard to combat the abuse of treaties.
