Allison Christians

Allison Christians is a tax law scholar and the H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law[1] at the McGill University Faculty of Law/Faculté de Droit in Montreal, Canada. Her research and teaching focus on Canadian and US domestic and broader international tax law and policy issues, with an emphasis on the relationship between taxation and economic development and on the role of government and non-government institutions and actors in the creation of tax policy norms.

Her work includes frequent analysis of both domestic and international tax policies relating to laws such as the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, Bill C-31, and the policies put forth by organizations like the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. Many of her articles are available on SSRN.[2]

Background

The foundation of Professor Christians' legal career was set by her work as a tax lawyer at Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz in New York, where she focused on the taxation of domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions, spin-offs, restructurings and associated issues and transactions involving private and public companies. She also worked at Debevoise & Plimpton in New York, where she focused mainly on private equity funds.

Professor Christians taught at the University of Wisconsin Law School and Northwestern University School of Law before joining the Faculty of Law at McGill University in 2012, and has held visiting positions at Leiden University, Thammasat University, and the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law.

She received her JD from Columbia Law School and her LL.M. in Taxation from the NYU School of Law.

Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act

Professor Christians has been a vocal opponent to the United States' Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), speaking out against it in multiple academic and news articles, [3] conferences,[4] and at the Canadian Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance.[5]

FATCA seeks to curb tax avoidance by US persons by requiring that any bank around the world that holds an account of a US person report the financial information relating to that bank account to the Internal Revenue Service, among other things. One of her biggest criticisms is that she believes the US Treasury lacks the power to make Intergovernmental Agreements (IGAs)[6] that are crucial to the functioning of FATCA. The IGAs, now signed with over 150 countries,[7] state that the foreign country will mandate that its banks comply with FATCA. Instead, she argues, the power to make such agreements (what she calls "treaties") only lies within the US Congress.[8]

Additionally, she argues that FATCA traps many individuals who were not aware that they are US citizens in the first place, or those who are simply not aware that they are subject to the United States' citizenship-based taxation regime, thanks in large part to birthright citizenship. [9]The United States' citizenship-based tax system is one of only two in the world. It requires that US citizens and permanent residents to file tax returns with the IRS every year, regardless of their physical location of residence. The other country that does this is Eritrea, but it has been widely criticized in the United Nations by many countries, including the United States.

Other work and involvement

Christians is the author of ‘The Big Picture,’ a column for Tax Analysts[10]’ Tax Notes International, serves as editor of the Tax section of Jotwell, and regularly comments on developments in international tax law and policy on the Tax, Society & Culture blog,[11] on the Lexis Nexis Tax Law Community blog,[12] and on Twitter @taxpolblog.[13]

She is also an active member of the International Fiscal Association and has been involved in projects with the International Bar Association Human Rights Initiative.

Awards

In May 2014, she was awarded the John Durnford Prize in Teaching Excellence by the Law Student Association of McGill University. She was also given the teacher of the year in 2009 by the Wisconsin Law Alumni Association.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "H. Heward Stikeman Chair in Tax Law | Stikeman Chair in Tax Law - McGill University". www.mcgill.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  2. ↑ "SSRN Author Page for Allison Christians :: SSRN". papers.ssrn.com. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  3. ↑ "Dropping the bomb". The Economist. ISSN 0013-0613. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  4. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R__KgHq0vRE, retrieved 2015-10-17 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  5. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxJf_Lk-yig, retrieved 2015-10-17 Missing or empty |title= (help)
  6. ↑ "FATCA - Archive". www.treasury.gov. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  7. ↑ "Intergovernmental agreement (IGA) monitor". PwC. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  8. ↑ Christians, Allison (2014-07-04). "Tax, Society & Culture: IRS claims statutory authority for FATCA agreements where no such authority exists". Tax, Society & Culture. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  9. ↑ "Q & A: How will the new U.S. tax law affect Canadians?". CTVNews. Retrieved 2015-10-17.
  10. ↑ "Tax Analysts -- Home Page -- Where Better Tax Law and Smarter Tax Debate Begin". www.taxanalysts.com. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  11. ↑ "Tax, Society & Culture". taxpol.blogspot.ca. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  12. ↑ "Tax Law - LexisNexis® Legal Newsroom". www.lexisnexis.com. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
  13. ↑ "Allison Christians (@taxpolblog) | Twitter". twitter.com. Retrieved 2015-10-16.
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