INTERNATIONAL TAXATION
CONCURRENT SESSIONS |
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 26, 2018
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| 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM | BREAKFAST |
| Chair: Kirsten S. Kjellander, Borden Ladner Gervais LLP, Vancouver |
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM |
Cross-Border Investments in the Asia Pacific
This session will discuss tax-effective structuring for Canadian companies investing in China, India, and Singapore. The analysis will explore relevant intricacies and interplay between Canadian tax law, and the relevant tax law in each jurisdiction; tax treaty provisions; and corresponding opportunities and pitfalls. The session will also focus on structuring and planning in respect of common and practical cross-border issues.
Speakers:
Marc-André Marchand, Deloitte LLP, Hong Kong
Christopher Roberge, Deloitte LLP, Hong Kong
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| 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM |
US Tax Reform
Almost one year later, how has U.S. tax reform affected Canadian multinationals? Who are the winners and who are the losers? This session will explore certain aspects of tax reform and how they have affected, and will continue to guide, the way Canadian multinationals manage their tax burdens. The pitfalls, uncertainties, and opportunities created by this milestone reform will be explored – specifically, those related to interest expense limitation, hybrid provisions, the BEAT, and FDII.
Speakers:
Roy Berg, Calgary
Dennis Metzler, Deloitte LLP, Toronto
Maruti Narayan, DLA Piper (US) LLP, New York
Paul Seraganian, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, New York
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| 10:00 AM - 10:10 AM | QUESTIONS |
| 10:10 AM - 10:40 AM | REFRESHMENT BREAK |
Chair: Corinne Grigoriu, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Calgary
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| 10:40 AM - 11:20 AM |
Inbound Investment
This session will provide an update on current tax matters that affect foreign investment in Canada, including the current Canadian view and the tendancies of the tax authority regarding treaty shopping, MLI, use of a ‘principal purpose test’ (PPT) in Canada’s treaties, interpretational issues with the PPT, recent views and experiences of technical matters related to the back-to-back loan rules for withholding tax and thin cap, and the foreign affiliate dumping rules. The session will also address at a high-level the recent US tax reform changes that are affecting US investors with current and future investments in Canada, including the impact of these changes on existing business models.
Speakers:
Richele Frank, CPA, CA, KPMG LLP, Vancouver
Andrew Wong, Torys LLP, Toronto
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| 11:20 AM - 12:00 PM |
Corporate Integration: Outbound Structuring in the US After Tax Reform
This session will provide, among other things, an update on the calculation of the fully distributed tax rates applicable to various Canadian outbound structures coming into the United States. The revised calculations will reflect changes to US and Canadian tax rates as well as to the Canadian foreign affiliate regime. The session will also provide additional examples that will highlight specific US tax reform provisions and changes to the Canadian foreign affiliate regime. These examples will go beyond the models in the earlier paper. The US tax reform provisions illustrated will include the following, among others: new earnings-stripping provisions, enhanced cost-recovery provisions, base erosion/anti-abuse provisions, and provisions applicable to certain hybrid structures and to foreign-derived intangible property. The session will also explore the application of the Canadian foreign affiliate regime to the same models.
Click here for an in-depth description of this presentation
Speakers:
Tim Barrett, Thorsteinssons LLP, Toronto
Kevin J. Duxbury, CPA, CA, KPMG LLP, Vancouver
|
| 12:00 PM - 12:15 PM | QUESTIONS |
| 12:15 PM - 2:00 PM | LUNCHEON |
| Chair: Soraya Jamal, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Vancouver |
| 2:00 PM - 2:40 PM |
Mergers & Acquisitions in Light of the US Tax Changes
Recent US tax reform has brought numerous changes, particularly with regard to international taxation, that will significantly impact cross-border mergers and acquisitions. This session will examine the US tax changes that will impact mergers and acquisitions in Canada, and certain Canadian tax and structure considerations that result from such changes.
Click here for an in-depth description of this presentation
Speakers:
Jennifer Hanna, MNP LLP, Calgary
Kenneth Saddington, Goodmans LLP, Toronto
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| 2:40 PM - 3:20 PM |
Foreign Affiliate Update: Issues with Non-Corporate Vehicles
This session will be a review of selected technical and practical issues that can arise under the foreign affiliate and surplus rules when a vehicle other than a “standard” corporation (such as a non-traditional corporation, a partnership or a trust) is located within a foreign affiliate structure that is ultimately owned by a Canadian-resident corporation. This review will include on overview of recent entity classification developments, recent amendments on corporations without share capital (section 93.2), hybrid entity issues (including US LLCs), issues with partnerships and foreign affiliates, trusts (in general and including sections 94, 94.2 and 93.3).
Speakers:
Tina Korovilas, Grant Thornton LLP, Toronto
Drew Morier, Osler, Hoskin & Harcourt LLP, Toronto
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| 3:20 PM - 3:30 PM | QUESTIONS |
| 3:30 PM - 4:00 PM | REFRESHMENT BREAK |
| Chair: Anu Nijhawan, Bennett Jones LLP, Calgary |
| 4:00 PM - 4:40 PM |
Transfer Pricing:
Section 247 – 20 Years In
It has been approximately 20 years since section 247 was introduced, but there remains significant uncertainty regarding its application. Despite an increased number of transfer pricing audits and disputes in Canada, disputes are hard and expensive to resolve and outcomes are hard to predict. Among other things, the scope of 247(2)(a)/(c) and 247(2)(b)/(d), and the conditions required for the CRA to re-characterize transactions, remain unclear.
As our understanding of section 247 has been developing in Canada, there have been numerous developments both at the international level and in other jurisdictions around the world. These developments, such as the BEPS initiative and the revised OECD transfer pricing guidelines, undoubtedly will have an impact on Canadian transfer pricing, both generally and with respect to specific issues such as the re-characterization of transactions. Some countries have resorted to legislative measures, such as the BEAT in the US and the diverted profits tax in the UK and Australia, to reduce the incentive taxpayers sometimes have to engage in aggressive transfer pricing.
The panelist will explore these matters, and provide insight on the challenges that taxpayers, practitioners, the CRA, the courts and the legislators will face in the years to come.
Click here for an in-depth description of this presentation
Speakers:
Siobhan A.M. Goguen, Felesky Flynn LLP, Calgary
Christopher J. Montes, Felesky Flynn LLP, Calgary
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| 4:40 PM - 5:20 PM |
Interest Deductibility
The G20/OECD BEPS Action 4 Final Report rejected thin capitalization rules, such as Canada’s, based on a fixed debt:equity ratio. Instead, it recommended that countries should adopt earnings stripping rules to limit the deduction of net interest expenses by resident entities to 10 – 30 percent of EBITDA. The European Union and the United States recently adopted earnings stripping rules that are broadly similar to the rules recommended in the BEPS Action 4 Report. Against the background of these recent developments, this panel discussion will explore whether Canada should enact new restrictions on the deduction of interest and, if so, what shape those restrictions should take.
Speakers:
David G. Duff, Peter A. Allard School of Law, UBC, Vancouver
Kevin Milligan, Vancouver School of Economics, UBC Vancouver
Panel Moderator:
Brian Arnold, Canadian Tax Foundation, London
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| 5:20 PM - 5:30 PM | QUESTIONS |
| 5:30 PM | ADJOURNMENT |
| MONDAY EVENING NETWORKING EVENTS » |
TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 2018
|
| 7:00 AM - 8:00 AM | BREAKFAST |
| Chair: Dallas McMurtrie, Deloitte LLP, Vancouver |
| 8:00 AM - 9:00 AM |
International Tax Issues That Get in the Way of Business
This presentation will discuss Canada’s international tax rules, including a discussion of how they may present challenges for Canadian-based businesses that operate outside Canada or within an international group and of whether modifications to the rules or interpretations thereof may be possible and of the challenges posed by amending the rules or the interpretations thereof.
Speakers:
Tony Ancimer, FCPA, FCA, Deloitte LLP, Toronto
Shawn Porter, CPA, CA, Deloitte LLP, Toronto
Scott Wilkie, Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP, Toronto
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| 9:00 AM - 10:00 AM |
Digital Taxation
One of the major challenges at present concerns tax policy reform aimed at the digital economy. The established legislative and treaty framework clearly does not adequately address the fundamentally different business models posed by the digital economy or their implications for the corporate tax base. Key questions concern how to establish sufficient presence to support taxation and the determination of profit allocation across jurisdictions. The OECD and the EU have each proposed solutions, but consensus among member states is elusive. In Canada, no action has been taken to date except in the province of Quebec. This international panel of experts will provide both an update and their perspectives on the prospect of achieving a workable solution.
Click here for an in-depth description of this presentation
Speakers:
David Bradbury, OECD, Paris
Allison Christians, McGill University, Montreal
Rosalie Wyonch, C.D. Howe Institute, Toronto
Panel Moderator:
Elinore Richardson, EMKDM Global Consulting Inc., Toronto
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| 10:00 AM - 10:10 AM | QUESTIONS |
| 10:10 AM - 10:40 AM | REFRESHMENT BREAK |
| 10:40 AM - 12:50 PM | PLENARY SESSIONS » |
12:50 PM | ADJOURNMENT
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