PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW AND TAX LAW. THE INTERNATIONAL LAW ASSOCIATION’S PROJECT ON INTERNATIONAL TAX LAW – PHASE 1: TAXPAYERS’ RIGHTS

Abstract

At present, the fight against tax avoidance and abuse dominates the development of international tax law. This requires a comprehensive counterbalancing approach from a taxpayers’ perspective. The following article outlines the results on taxpayers’ rights by the research group on International Tax Law of the Law Association (ILA). Based on a comparative legal study, we analyse these rights, which generally limit the exercise of tax sovereignty. We begin with the sources of international tax law (III.). Then we deal with the interaction of international and national law (IV.). After that, we turn to the general questions of human rights in tax law (V.), before addressing individual taxpayers’ rights based on the usual categorisation in tax law in procedural rights (VI.), sanctions-related rights (VII.) and substantive rights (VIII.). Finally, we summarise our findings (IX.).