Legal problems of interpreting the concept of a beneficial owner of income in the Russian tax legislation
The article deals with the issues of interpretation and application of the international tax anti-avoidance concept of a beneficial owner of income found in Articles 7 and 312 of the RF Tax Code. The author reveals and elaborates a number of shortcomings of the definition of this concept and the mechanism of its application introduced in the Tax Code. Actually, in the Code, there is the approach that implies mixing the concept of a beneficial owner of income with the concept of a beneficial owner of companies, as well as using the «look through» principle of passive income taxation. Such an approach seems to be incompatible with an essence of the international tax concept, the approaches established in the OECD’s Commentary, and international jurisprudence; moreover, it’s inappropriate for fiscal goals. The author offers practical recommendations for improving the legal regulation of the concept of a beneficial owner of income in Russia.