How Recent Developments Under BEPS May Affect Fund Managers’ Ability to Use Special Purpose Vehicles

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has implemented a number of reforms in an effort to combat tax strategies that exploit mismatches between tax treaties and artificially shift value from high-tax countries to low-tax ones. One of these reforms – the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) initiative – is designed to restrict the ability of companies, including fund managers, to establish investment platforms in jurisdictions with favorable tax treaties in order to take advantage of tax benefits. See “Treaties Offer Fund Managers Means to Reclaim Overpayments but Require Updating to Keep Pace With the Market” (Jun. 15, 2017); and our two-part series “Steps That Alternative Investment Fund Managers Need to Take Today to Comply With the Global Trend Toward Tax Transparency”: Part One (Apr. 7, 2016); and Part Two (Apr. 14, 2016). In a guest article, Will Smith and Caleb McConnell, partner and associate, respectively, at Sidley Austin, explore recent developments relating to the proposals for implementing Article 6 of the BEPS initiative, which could affect the ability of fund managers to use special purpose vehicles to hold investments for their funds in jurisdictions covered by BEPS. For additional insights from Smith, see “Recent Tax Developments May Make U.K. Limited Companies More Favorable Than U.K. LLPs for U.S. Fund Managers” (Apr. 20, 2017); and our two part series “U.K. Disguised Fee Rules May Result in Increased U.K. Taxation of Investment Fees to Individuals Affiliated With Hedge Fund Managers”: Part One (Apr. 16, 2015); and Part Two (Apr. 23, 2015).

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