2019 IFA International Tax Student Writing Award; Call For Entrants In 2020 Competition

The winner of the International Fiscal Association's 2019 International Tax Student Writing Competition is David Rubin (Virginia), EB OR NOT EB? That is the Question Treasury Must Answer After Brexit, 49 BNA Tax Mgmt. Int’l J. 1 (2020).
Faculty Sponsor: Ruth Mason

The United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union could have a significant effect on international and U.K. domestic taxation. Brexit will likely impact aspects of the United Kingdom's value added tax and withholding tax regimes, customs and excise taxes, State Aid determinations, and double tax treaties. This article discusses one discrete issue that has not yet been decided by the U.S. Treasury and that could have significant consequences for entities currently claiming the benefit of U.S. tax treaties: whether the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the European Union means that U.K. shareholders will no longer be considered “equivalent beneficiaries” for purposes of the derivative benefits test in the limitation on benefits provision in U.S. tax treaties.

This article evaluates the arguments for and against extending equivalent beneficiary status to U.K. residents post-Brexit, considers historical analogs that might provide insight on the question, and discusses Treasury's options for extending equivalent beneficiary status in light of the possibility that some approaches could create issues with its treaty partners or the U.S. Senate.

2020 IFA International Tax Student Writing Competition
Subject: Any topic relating to U.S. taxation of income from international activities, including taxation under U.S. tax treaties.
Open to: All students during the 2019-20 academic year (including independent study and summer 2018 school courses) pursuing a graduate degree (J.D., L.L.M., S.J.D., M.S.T., MTA, Masters of Taxation, or similar program). Any appropriate papers written in fall 2019 or spring and summer 2020.
Submission Deadline:  September 30, 2020.
Prize:  $2,000 cash, plus expenses-paid invitation to the IFA USA Branch Annual Meeting in Chicago on April 22-23, 2021.

Here are the recent winners:

• 2018:  Ivan Ozawa Ozai (LL.B. 2019, McGill), Tax Competition and the Ethics of Burden Sharing, 42 Fordham Int'l J. 61 (2018). 
• 2017:  David Maranjian (J.D. 2017, Virgina), What’s in a Name? XILINX, ALTERA, and Why Using “Arm’s Length” as a Catchall is Causing Problems for Treasury, 47 BNA Tax Mgmt. Int'l J. ___ (2018)
• 2016:  Amanda Kazacos (LL.M. 2016, NYU), BEPS Action 6: The Principle Purpose Test Revisited, and Amanda M. Leon (J.D. 2016, University of Virginia), If the Commission “LOBs” a Pitch to the ECJ, Will It Strike Out Again? Reconsidering European Court of Justice Jurisprudence Regarding Limitation on Benefits Clauses in Bilateral Tax Treaties and Why the United States Should Care.
• 2015:  Sienna Carly White (J.D. 2015, Notre Dame), Cost Sharing Agreements & the Arm’s Length Standard: A Matter of Statutory Interpretation?, 19 Fla. Tax Rev. 191 (2016).
• 2014:  Mateusz M. Krauze (LL.M. 2014, Harvard), Impact of Cloud Computing on Permanent Establishments under the OECD Model Tax Convention, 44 TM Int'l J. 44 (2015).
• 2013:  Benjamin B. Vick (J.D. 2013, Boston University), Related-Party Transfers of Intangibles: Standards and Recommendations for Combating International Transfer Pricing Abuses, 43 TM Int'l J.  207 (2014).
• 2012:  Assaf Prussak (S.J.D. Candidate, Michigan), The Income of the 21st Century: Online Advertising as a Case Study for The Implications of Technology for Source-Based Taxation, 16 Tul. J. Tech. & Intell. Prop. (2013).
• 2011:  Bradford Craig (J.D. 2012, Temple), Congress, Have a Heart: Practical Solutions to Punitive Measures Plaguing the Heart Act’s Expatriate Inheritance Tax, 26 Temp. Int'l & Comp. L.J. 69 (2012).
• 2010:  Kevin L. Preslan (J.D. 2011, Cleveland State), Turnabout is Fair Play: The U.S. Response to Mexico’s Request for Bank Account Information, 1 Global Bus. L. Rev. 203 (2011).
• 2009:  Samuel J. Lee (LL.M. 2009, Boston University), A Recommendation, in Light of the Current Economy, for Revising the Way § 304 Applies to International Transactions, 38 Tax Mgmt. Int'l J. 500 (Aug. 2009). 
• 2008:  Jason Sullivan (LL.M. 2008, Florida), Debt-Equity Hybrid Instruments in a Cross-Border Setting: A Focus on the U.S. Foreign Tax Credit, 53 Tax Notes Int'l 817 (Mar. 2, 2009).