Dr. Angelika Meindl-Ringler, former research associate at the MPI for Tax Law and Public Finance, received the “International Tax Law Award 2017” of the German Federal Chamber of Tax Consultants (BStBK) for her doctoral thesis “The Concept of Beneficial Ownership in International Tax Law”. She developed her thesis under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Schön, Director at the MPI for Tax Law and Public Finance. Volker Kaiser, the vice director of the BStBK, awarded her with the prize at the German Tax Consultant Congress in Munich on 29.05.2017.

Angelika Meindl-Ringlers dissertation focuses on the use and interpretation of beneficial ownership, an intensively and controversially discussed topic in the field of international tax law. BStBK vice president Volker Kaiser praises in his laudatory speech the significant contribution of her work to international tax law and how it poses the right questions advancing the profession of tax consultants. Despite the scientific standard, she managed to accomplish an outstanding work with practical application and great relevance.

Beneficial ownership in international tax law is needed, so that taxpayers with regard to revenues of dividends, interest rates and license fees can profit from a reduced withholding tax. Angelika Meindl-Ringler’s dissertation analyses systematically the use and interpretation of beneficial ownership in more than 22 countries and tax law systems. She particularly emphasizes the original term of use in British and Australian double taxation conventions from the 1960s and 1970s. On this basis, she develops her own approach to how beneficial ownership should ideally be interpreted.

The BStBK not only awards 3000 Euro to the winner but also grants him/her with the opportunity of participating at the International Fiscal Association (IFA) 2018 in Seoul / South Korea.

Press release of the BStK

June 2017