Taxsutra Presents Panel Discussion on "UN Digital Tax Proposal"

Episode Duration:
85 minutes

Episode Background:
During the height of the space race in the 1960s, legend has it, NASA scientists realized that “pens” could not function in space, and thus needed to figure out another way for the astronauts to write things down. So they spent years and millions of taxpayer dollars to develop a pen that could put ink to paper without gravity. But their crafty Soviet counterparts, so the story goes, simply handed their cosmonauts “pencils”.

While this may be an imperfect analogy for the OECD and UN approaches to finding a solution to the vexatious digital economy taxation conundrum, yet the United Nations Tax Committee’s drafting group on this subject has come up with what they believe is an easy to understand, easy to implement and transparent solution in the form of Article 12B. The proposed Article 12B on 'Automated Digital Servcies' taxation is primarily a withholding mechanism, which provides for option between gross vs. net basis of taxation. The international media has coined the term “Bansal Proposal” for this, the main author of the proposal being senior Indian IRS officer Mr. Rajat Bansal.

What shall the episode cover?
Against this backdrop, Taxsutra is delighted to present to you a riveting panel discussion on the theme of “UN's Proposal on Digital Economy Taxation”. The Panel comprise of luminaries of the International Tax Arena, viz - Senior IRS Officer & UN Committee Member Shri. Rajat Bansal, Mr. T.P. Ostwal (Partner, T. P. Ostwal & Associates) & Ms. Parul Jain (Co-Head, International Tax Practice, Nishith Desai Associates), who have enlightened the audience on the nitty-gritties of Article 12B, its features & objectives, as also share their perspective on the way forward. The panel shall be moderated by Mr. P.V.Srinivasan (Corporate Advisor) & Taxsutra’s Group Editor Mr. Arun Giri.