Tax Planning in the Middle East

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1 Overview and Learning Objectives This three-day intermediate-level course concentrates on a number of common international tax planning scenarios in the Middle East region. It examines the widely used regional tax planning routes, structures and tax treaties. Attention will also be paid to domestic and regional tax policy and transfer pricing developments. Special consideration will be given to certain domestic tax regimes such as Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The course covers, through a combination of formal presentations and complex case studies, some common tax planning tools involving holdings, financing and treasury companies and branches, and tax consolidation regimes. Inbound and outbound tax planning techniques will both be examined. The course will present the latest issues for manufacturing and distributor multinational enterprises. It will conclude with an introduction to tax planning related to holding companies, R&D activities and intangibles, including the potential impact of recent international developments under the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project on tax planning in the Middle East countries. This course is designed to provide participants who deal with international tax planning in the Middle East with updates on relevant tax treaty and transfer pricing developments. The course is also important for those tax professionals who are not based in the Middle East but whose day-today work requires further knowledge of the tax issues of the region. Who Should Attend? The course is suitable for practitioners in tax advisory firms, in-house tax specialists in commerce and industry, and government officials. This course may also be chosen as part of the curriculum of the IBFD Advanced Professional Certificate in International Taxation. Further information about this certification programme can be found at Course Level and Prerequisites This is an intermediate-level course. Participants taking this course will be expected to have a good understanding of at least one national tax system and the fundamentals of double tax treaties.

2 Day Registration Welcome and IBFD Overview Introduction to the Domestic Tax Systems in the Region (Ridha Hamzaoui, IBFD, the Netherlands) Overview of regional corporate tax regimes types of taxes in the region sources of tax laws definition of income, capital gains, losses basic computation rules tax rates tax incentives popular forms of doing business group consolidation rules treatment of profit distributions and shareholdings Domestic laws of regional countries Saudi Arabia Bahrain Qatar Egypt United Arab Emirates Specific requirements for investments in the Middle East Financial centres Free trade zones regimes Sponsorship requirements Break Refreshments Tax Treaty Network of the Middle East Countries (Ridha Hamzaoui, IBFD, the Netherlands) Overview of selected treaties and articles Domestic law treaty overrides Reduction of withholding taxes Treaty routes to invest in the Middle East The Middle East as a key route to invest in other jurisdictions Anti-avoidance rules in the Middle East region Lunch

3 Tax Treaty Network of the Middle East Countries (continued) (Salah Gueydi, International Tax Expert, Qatar) Tax transparency Exchange of information Peer-to-peer reviews FATCA Break Refreshments Emerging International and Regional Tax Issues (Salah Gueydi, International Tax Expert, Qatar) Current approaches adopted by emerging economies Tax policy developments post-beps BEPS implementation Regional initiatives Gulf Cooperation Council common tax projects

4 Day Tax Planning for Holding Activities in the Middle East (Ridha Hamzaoui, IBFD) Goals and objectives of a holding company Use of holding companies in the Middle East Taxation of dividends and capital gains Taxation of interest and royalties Withholding taxes Treaty benefits for holding companies based in the Middle East: experiences and case law decisions Selection of a holding company locations in the Middle East Overview of common holding companies locations Bahrain, Lebanon, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates Break Refreshments Tax Planning for R&D Activities and Intangible Property in the Middle East (Amr Al Monayer, International Tax and Transfer Pricing Partner, PWC, Egypt) Tax-effective IP models in the Middle East Main tax issues Choice of location in the creation of intellectual property in the Middle East domestic tax incentives and other considerations The migration of intellectual property to and from the Middle East various licensing models choice of location Lunch Supply Chains, Permanent Establishments and Business Restructuring (Tamás Kulcsár, IBFD, the Netherlands) Importance of PEs in supply chain restructuring Regional PE definitions - Fixed place of business PEs - Agency PEs - Recent OECD discussion draft on PEs - Practical examples and recent case law - BEPS aspects relevant for PE and business restructuring Break Refreshments

5 Supply Chains, Permanent Establishments and Business Restructuring (continued) (Tamás Kulcsár, IBFD, the Netherlands) Common types of business restructuring - shared services - manufacturing activities - distribution activities Overview of the transfer pricing aspects Tax treaty aspects of supply chain restructuring Practical examples and recent case law

6 Day Tax Structuring through Debt Financing in the Middle East (Ridha Hamzaoui, IBFD, The Netherlands) Debt vs equity Use of finance companies and branches in the Middle East Back-to-back arrangements Relevant tax treaty rules and regional legislation concept of residence under tax treaty beneficial ownership concept Practical examples Break Refreshments Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intra-Group Finance in the Middle East (Amr Al Monayer, International Tax and Transfer Pricing Partner, PWC, Egypt) Intra-group loans arm s length nature of loans determining arm s length terms and conditions comparability factors to consider importance of a stand-alone credit rating establishing an arm s length interest rate Guarantee fees when to charge a guarantee fee how to establish a guarantee fee country-specific approaches and examples Cash pooling Transfer pricing and thin capitalization rules Practical examples/case study Lunch Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangible Tax Planning in the Middle East (Amr Al Monayer, International Tax and Transfer Pricing Partner, PWC, Egypt) Intangibles definitions (legal, accounting and tax) Manufacturing and marketing intangibles Selected case law examples Transfer vs use Royalty rate determination Valuation approaches Cost contribution agreements Further OECD developments concerning intangibles Case studies

7 Break Refreshments Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles Tax Planning in the Middle East (continued)