The growth of REIT regimes worldwide has led the OECD to set up a working group to consider the tax treaty implications of cross border property investment via REITs (and Australian property trusts) and whether any modifications to tax treaty texts are appropriate. It is expected that a draft report will be released for comment by the OECD later this year. This paper considers the treaty issues, in particular:
- tax treaty impact of different vehicles (corporate REITs and flow-through trusts/partnerships/contracts) used for collective property investment around the world
- tax treaty impact of different ways of removing income tax at the level of the entity
- application of current tax treaties to REITs and similar vehicles
- possible modifications to real property, dividend and capital gains articles of tax treaties to deal with REITs and similar vehicles
- relief of double taxation problems and tax treaty responses
- EU tax problems for REIT regimes and their interaction with tax treaties.