The Beneficial Owner (The Person Who has the Actual Right to Income) as a Subject of Tax Legal Relationship

The concept of beneficial owner was introduced in the Model Tax Convention of the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development in 1977 as an instrument for preventing an abusing use of international treaties on double taxation. Absence of a definition of the beneficial owner for a long period of time at the international level has led to contradictions in legal science and practice. Nowadays, the concept of the beneficial owner is still developing under the influence of the BEPS project. In the following research the term “beneficial owner” and the status of the beneficial owner in tax legal relationship are determined. The understanding of the beneficial owner concept on the international level and in the Russian legal system is studied. As a result of analysis of legislation acts and law enforcement practice the author holds an opinion that incorporation of the concept in the Russian Tax Law is not quite satisfying. The author states several limits of use of the concept basing on constitutional principles of taxation.