On The Problem Of E-commerce Tax Laws

Electronic Commerce is a new form of economic activity. Its emergence and development is the result of rapid expansion of new technology and commercial operation. Electronic Commerce is a completely new concept involving a lot of new legal issues. This causes great impact on the traditional economic legal concepts. Since the Electronic Commerce Law is a branch of law at its early development, researches on this area are relatively immature when compared with other branches of economic law. It is particularly noticeable in the taxation law of Electronic Commerce. After making extensive literature review, this thesis utilizes the traditional principles and theories in the international taxation law to resolve certain legal issues in the taxation law of Electronic Commerce, with a view to contribute to the unification of the taxation law of Electronic Commerce, as well as the amalgamation of legislation in the taxation law of Electronic Commerce between China and the outside world. In this way, this thesis serves both academic and practical values.All Electronic Commerce transactions are made without any written contract. The involving parties would rely on the instrument existed in electronic format only. The subject matter of the transactions could be tangible goods or intangible services. If the transaction involves anonymous party, it will not leave any record for audit purpose. The international taxation principles (including sales tax, capital gain tax, tax adminational and tax treaties) made in accordance with the traditional economic trade may pose a lot of problems. The following problems are discerned :1. the impact on traditional tax principles;2. the concept of permanent establishment and the cross-border source of income;3. the impact on traditional taxable items;4. the jurisdictional conflicts;5. the impact on tax administration; and6. the tax policy of Electronic Commerce.No country has a perfect tax system, which resolves all the problems associated with Electronic Commerce. It is in fact difficult if not impossible to establish one. Each country is unique, if the developing countries do not establish their own policy, but rely on the developed countries' policy, they would suffer a lot of economic loss. The developing countries have their own tax policy which could prevent their tax system from weakening their own source of tax. In addition, we have to make a fair balance between the fairness of distributing the tax burden and the promotion of Electronic Commerce. Issues of taxable items and tax administration should be taken into account the principle of fairness and the practicability. Bearing in mind that Electronic Commerce is still in the earlier stage of development having inadequate sources of reference, the thesis may be considered to be one having significant degree of difficulty.Electronic Commerce encounters standstill in the development process, there is insufficient theoretical basis for research purpose. In order to facilitate the discussion on this topics, it is required to have a set of basic theories. In Chapter 1, we focus on studying the background of Electronic Commerce, the characteristics of its trade model, the use of Electronic Commerce, the contents of Electronic Commerce, the challenges brought by Electronic Commerce, the legislation concerning Electronic Commerce and its related legal problems. We aim at providing a better understanding of ElectronicCommerce for the purpose of further study.As Electronic Commerce involves a lot of international economic activities, it is necessary to understand the principles and theories of traditional international taxation law. In Chapter 2, we will study the international taxation problem, its characteristics and principles.Comparative Study is a commonly used research methodology in the study of international law. In Chapter 3, we will study the experiences of the other countriesin the field of taxation law of Electronic Commerce, including United States of America, OECD...