Tax Certainty and Taxation of International Pension Funds: The Complicating and Costly Role of Domestic Courts

Abstract

This article examines a UK and an Australian court decision regarding the international taxation of pensions. It finds that despite the different legal frameworks applying in each case, both decisions heighten concerns about tax uncertainty by commonly employing a domestic approach to construe the relevant international instrument, albeit that both decisions purport to follow international customary rules of interpretation.

Keywords: Tax Certainty, International Obligations, Vienna Convention, Retirement Benefits Taxation, OECD Model Tax Convention, Multilateral Treaty, Binding Arbitration,