Introduction to Taxation in an International Context

This chapter provides an outline to taxation in an international context. It discusses the importance of taxation as both an individual and business planning activity, outlines what a tax is, why Governments charge them and how they can be arranged. It then discusses how these domestic structures for tax are changed to be applied to cross border transactions where more than one country is involved. It discusses the key problem of international taxation, that of double tax, and how this arises from jurisdictional conflicts in the rights to tax. The chapter also discusses how double tax can be relieved in practice. It concludes with a brief introduction to other key issues in international taxation; neutrality, tax avoidance/evasion and transfer pricing.