Cross-border tax terms — M
7 terms beginning with M, each defined at mechanism level.
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The definitions here are unnumbered on purpose. A concept survives a budget; a threshold does not, and the two are easy to confuse once they sit in the same sentence.
Terminology is where cross-border risk hides. The rate is visible and gets checked; the classification is invisible and does not, which is why the classification is what usually goes wrong. Each page below follows the same shape — definition, consequence, and the specific returns or elections the term reaches.
If this term has turned up in a letter, a slip or an adviser's email and you are not sure which side of it you are on, that is a short call to the helpline rather than a research project. Every page here carries the name of the person who reviewed it and the date they did.
- MLI — The multilateral instrument, which modified many existing treaties at once.
- Mutual agreement procedure — The treaty process by which two competent authorities resolve a case of double taxation, available even where domestic appeal rights have run.
- Mark-to-market election — An election to tax a holding on its annual change in value rather than on realisation, available for certain foreign funds and used to escape the default regime.
- Master file — A transfer-pricing document describing the group as a whole — structure, intangibles, financing — filed locally in several countries at once.
- Marital deduction — The unlimited transfer between spouses assumed in US estate and gift tax — assumed, because it depends on the recipient spouse being a US citizen.
- Marketplace facilitator — A platform required to collect tax on sales it facilitates, shifting but rarely eliminating the seller's own registration and reporting duties.
- MAT — India's minimum tax computed from book profit, so a company with reliefs or losses can still owe tax on its accounting result.
What the M entries have in common
7 terms begin with M. The term below is defined in full on its own page, alongside the filings it governs and the fee for dealing with them. Three to start with: MLI, Mutual agreement procedure and Mark-to-market election.
Nearby letters
L — 5 terms · N — 15 terms. The full A–Z lists all 297 terms in one place.
Back to the full glossary · Cross-border tax answers · Side-by-side comparisons
Cross-border situations we are engaged for
Treaty text reconstructed against the multilateral instrument before a withholding decision
A payer was about to apply a treaty rate taken from the published text of the treaty. The instrument had modified the relevant article, and the modified wording changed the test the recipient had to meet. The work consisted of establishing what each state had adopted and what each had reserved, assembling the article as it now operates, and applying it to the payment in question. The engagement produced a written statement of the operative rule with its sources, a withholding decision taken on that basis, and a reference note the payer now uses for later payments under the same treaty.
Mutual agreement request prepared after domestic appeal rights had expired
An assessment in one state produced double taxation and the objection period there had long closed. The domestic route was gone; the treaty route was not. The work consisted of establishing that the case was one the treaty covers, identifying the correct competent authority and the time limit measured from the assessing action, and assembling the facts as they stood at the time rather than as they look now. The engagement produced a presented case with its supporting file, an acknowledgement from the authority, and a client who understood what the process would ask of them over its life.
Mark to market election modelled before it was made
A holding fell within a regime that taxes it punitively if nothing is elected, and the alternative was to bring the annual change in value into charge instead. The work consisted of setting out what each treatment would do across the expected holding period, what evidence of value would be needed at each year end, and what the other country would continue to do with the same asset regardless of the election. The engagement produced a written comparison, an election made on an informed basis, and a valuation procedure the client now follows at each year end.
Corresponding adjustment sought after a transfer pricing assessment
One authority increased the profits of a group company and the counterparty's country left its own figures untouched, so the same profit sat inside two charges. The work consisted of reading the adjustment against the pricing documentation that had supported the original position, establishing whether the case fell within the treaty article, and presenting it to the competent authority with that analysis intact. The engagement produced a filed request for relief, the documentation file preserved as it stood at the time, and an agreed position between the group companies on how the interim years would be reported.
Treaty benefit denied by a modified article and the position re papered
A claim accepted in earlier years was questioned, and the reason turned out to be a condition introduced into the article by the instrument rather than any change in the client's own facts. The work consisted of identifying the new condition, testing the arrangement against it honestly, and deciding whether the claim could still be made. The engagement produced a revised position for the current year, a note of the earlier years and the exposure they carry, and a recommendation on what the arrangement would have to change for the benefit to be available again.
Dual residence resolved through the treaty tie breaker on evidence
Two authorities each treated the same individual as resident for the same year and each expected a worldwide return. The work consisted of applying the treaty tie breaker in its own order rather than weighing factors against each other, and gathering what each step actually requires. Where a home was available, where family and economic ties sat, where the days were genuinely spent. The engagement produced a residence conclusion supported by tenancy, travel and banking records, returns filed consistently on both sides, and a file the client can produce if either authority asks again.
One Salary, Two Countries Claiming It
A US citizen resident in Canada, taxed in full on both sides because each return was prepared without the other in view. Deciding which country has the first right to the income, then claiming relief on the second return in the right order, is what stops the same dollar being taxed twice.
Read how this one runsCanadian Pension Paid Abroad and Taxed at the Flat Rate
Pension and annuity payments to a non-resident carry a flat withholding that often exceeds what a return would produce. The alternative filing is elective, and whether it helps depends on the total income for the year rather than on the payment alone.
Read how this one runsAll case studies — every published engagement in one place.
Core International & Cross-Border Tax Services
Strategy and compliance for income, assets and families spread across borders.
Industries & Client Types We Serve Worldwide
- Foreign VAT / GST / sales tax registrations
- Marketplace withholding reviews
- Inventory nexus & PE analysis
- Multi-currency books reconciled
- Cross-border revenue sourcing & withholding
- IP structuring with real substance
- Equity for cross-border teams
- U.S. expansion: entity & PE setup
Firms and partners working across borders meet Regulation 105 withholding, PE risk on long engagements and per-country payroll for travelling staff.
A partnership is taxed in the hands of its partners, so one engagement abroad can reach every partner's personal return. The order matters: the waiver is applied for before the invoice, the presence is tracked before it becomes an establishment, and the payroll is registered before the first day worked in the other country.
- Reg 105 / 102 waivers
- Permanent establishment risk
- Partner mobility planning
- Cross-border withholding recovery
- Section 216 rental returns
- FIRPTA withholding recovery
- Section 116 clearance
- Treaty credit optimization
- Transfer pricing documentation (s.247)
- Customs value vs transfer price
- Foreign affiliate reporting (T1134)
- Country-by-country reporting
- Reg 105 & U.S. CWA agreements
- Multi-state & country calendars
- Touring income allocation
- Royalty & image-rights withholding
- Residency analysis before moving
- Employer payroll exposure
- Totalization & social security
- Foreign tax credits
- Treaty access & PPT reviews
- FAPI & surplus computations
- Withholding-efficient routing
- Governance & substance
