Taxation of cross-border inheritances and donations: suggestions for improvement

Dafnomilis, V. (2021)

Doctoral Thesis

The rationale behind this study is to describe four problems of death and gift taxes in a cross-border setting and to provide solutions to these problems under the current international and EU law mechanisms. These problems are double or multiple taxation, double or multiple non-taxation, discrimination and administrative difficulties. The selection of these problems is justified by the two main points of reference selected in the study, the 1982 OECD Model Tax Convention for the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on inheritances, estates and gifts (OECD IHTMTC), and the inheritance tax report of the European Commission’s expert group, ‘Ways to tackle inheritance cross-border tax obstacles facing individuals within the EU’ from 2015. The study serves as up-to-date material for tax professionals, policymakers, academics and students as well as the general public who want to understand, amongst others, the problems of death and gift taxation in a cross-border setting, how the international and EU law mechanisms in this area of law work in practice, how the OECD IHTMTC can be improved, how the CJ’s case law on EU inheritance and gift taxation has resulted in the so-called ‘negative harmonisation’ of death and gift taxes in the EU, and whether the ‘one inheritance – one inheritance tax’ concept suggested in the inheritance tax report can provide a holistic solution to the problems of death and gift taxation in the EU.

• Inheritance tax
• Death tax
• Double taxation
• EU Succession Regulation
• OECD model tax convention
• Mattner
• Welte
• Schumacker
• Recommendation 2011/856/EU

• All authors: Dafnomilis, V.
• Supervisor: Sonneveldt, F.; Douma, S.C.W.
• Committee: Mellema-Kranenburg, T.J.; Vijfeijken, I.J.F.A. van: Maisto, G.; Lyons QC, T.
• Qualification: Doctor (dr.)
• Awarding Institution: Institute of Tax Law and Economics , Faculty of Law , Leiden University
• Date: 2021-06-03
• Sponsorship: Foundation for Education and European Culture (IPEP) - Athens, Greece