International Tax and Trade Issues

     Trade in services is a growing and important part of both the Canadian and world economy. Issues about whether service providers are being treated fairly when providing services cross border is also a global issue. Canada is signatory to two major international trade agreements, impacting  trade in services, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). Both provide various levels of protection in the form of commitments to national treatment and most favoured nation treatment.  Canada is also a signatory to more than 60 bilatersl tax treaties thsat are designed to avoid both double taxation and to provide some protection against tax discrimination.Service providers will no doubt be most interested in the rights or protections provided by such agreements.

This site attempts to inform and educate about these international tax and trade issues that are becoming increasingly relevant to our daily lives.  The site is segmented as follows:

The Canadian Service Provider's Guide to Tax and Trade Agreements

• This Guide is targeted towards service providers and members of the public who have questions about  providing their services cross-border.  It focuses mainly on two trade agreements - the GATS and the NAFTA - and outlines how each of the agreements may impact service providers and provides a "how to" guide for maneuvering through the agreements seamlessly.   

International Topics Database

• This Database is targeted towards students and academics seeking information regarding international tax and trade issues.  It is intended to act as an information resource and contains detailed descriptions of treaties, trade agreements, etc and provides an in-depth analysis about how these may impact such things as taxation. 

International Tax

• Information is provided on the following topics:
  • How tax treaties affet the provision of cross-border services
  • Protections against discrimination found in tax treaties (including examples)
  • Also articles of interest & links

Academic Papers 

• Contained in this segment are a number of academic writings disecting the impact of tax and trade agreements on different sectors and on things such as taxation. 

Related Articles

• Links to a collection of articles related to international tax and trade issues.

Links

• This segment lists a number of external links and additional information sources that you may find useful to your search.