Case law from foreign countries can be difficult to locate, particularly for civil law jurisdictions in which precedent plays a much more limited role than in common law jurisdictions. The following resources provide selective access to foreign court decisions (or summaries thereof) involving tax treaty interpretation and other tax-related matters.
Electronic Resources
- IBFD Tax Research Platform
IBFD has three searchable case law collections: 1) national court decisions involving tax treaty interpretation, 2) national court decisions involving other tax-related matters, and 3) tax decisions issued by the Court of Justice of the EU.
- To access this content, click on the + sign next to the heading Case Law to display the menu. Use the filters on the left to narrow by jurisdiction or by date range.
- Some court opinions are available in their original language. For others, only English summaries are provided.
- TaxNotes.com
Case law content is limited to cases involving tax treaty interpretation. From the Research Tools tab in the upper side of the homepage, click on Worldwide Tax Treaties. When the page refreshes, click on Court Opinions on the lower left side of the page under the heading News & Analysis. The use the menu to select the jurisdiction and the court. Some court opinions are provided in their original language and others in English translation.
- Worldwide Tax Treaties Case Law
The content of this Lexis database is identical to the case law collection available on TaxNotes.com. It is easier to browse for case law by jurisdiction or by court on the TaxNotes the platform than on Lexis.
Print Resources
- International Tax Law Reports INTL K4459.52 .I5 (1999-2006).
Selectively publishes significant court decisions from common law and some civil law jurisdictions. For each decision, the full text of the opinion in its original language is provided, along with an English language summary, when appropriate. Each volume includes a list of cases by jurisdiction and a topical digest. Note: The library's subscription ended in 2006.
- Tax Treaty Case Law Around the Globe. INTL K4550 .T388 (2011-present).
This series, published annually in print by IBFD, includes English language summaries of significant decisions involving tax treaty interpretation issued by national courts throughout the world. The case summaries published in these print volumes often provide a greater depth of analysis than the summaries available on IBFD's online platform.
