Bertolini and Weaver Present Paper at ATA Midyear Meeting

Michelle S. Bertolini, LLM, JD, CPA, and Pamela Q. Weaver, DBA, CPA, faculty members in the Accounting and Taxation Department, Barney School of Business, presented their paper, "Mandatory Arbitration within Tax Treaties: A Need for a Coherent International Standard," at the 2012 American Taxation Association (ATA) Midyear Meeting on Feb. 24 in New Orleans.

The paper explores the failure of the Mutual Agreement Procedures (MAP) within the tax treaties to provide equitable relief from double taxation as businesses expand operations globally.  While the treaties governed by the OECD Model Tax Convention have begun to include mandatory binding arbitration for taxpayers failing to reach agreement under MAP, the U.S. with its myriad of individually negotiated treaties lags behind, exposing taxpayers to uncertain outcomes. The uncertainty also causes compliance considerations under ASC 740. The authors recommend a universal procedure for avoiding double taxation and suggest that the U.S. consider adopting the OECD Model Tax Convention for all tax treaties.