Pairing International Taxation and Conflict of Laws: Common Challenges and Reciprocal Lessons

Abstract

This article explores the relationship between two legal fields that represent the legal backbone of contemporary cross-border and internet commercial activity: conflict of laws and international taxation. Despite the growing significance of the two fields of law, legal scholarship has yet to explore their intriguing relationship. Which state can levy tax on a multi-billion-dollar Delaware (US) corporation with headquarters in London (UK) that sells $500,000,000 worth of products to Australian consumers each year? Which law should adjudicate an online contract between a NSW corporation and a German corporation, signed online and addressing the delayed delivery of goods in Brazil due to the coronavirus outbreak? Despite the paramount significance of both disciplines, their traditional underpinnings appear to be fundamentally challenged and pressed by the realities of COVID-19, dynamic commerce, and the digital environment. Our cross-disciplinary partnership aims to design a unifying conceptual framework that captures the essentials of both disciplines. Through reciprocal lessons, this framework will help address the uncertainty in both disciplines.

Keywords: conflict of laws, international taxation, closest connection, party autonomy, foreign element, DTA, Double tax agreements