Taxes affect the degree and efficiency of financial intermediation in many different ways. This paper summarizes the main tax provisions in OECD countries that affect the overall “tax wedge” between pre-tax returns on investments, and the post-tax yield on the savings that finance them. This tax wedge is shown to vary widely, in individual countries, according to the different ways in which savings are channeled through financial markets. The paper then discusses alternative criteria for assessing tax regimes for financial assets, and summarizes recent trends in OECD countries.

"Taxation of Financial Products is designed for all financial services professionals.It explains the basics of selected financial products and their income tax treatment.Chapters focus on federal income tax basics, mutual funds, annuities, stocks, bonds, life insurance and qualified plans.The information provided is comprehensive and up to date with current tax laws and figures, as well as planning strategies."Taxation of Financial Products is written in plain English, and provides the financial services professional with the proper information needed to help meet clients' financial objectives. Material has been updated to reflect the changes made by the new distribution rules and the Tax Act of 2001, including updates to rules governing qualified plans, catch up contributions and simplification of required minimum distribution rules, and facts, figures, illustrations and examples have been updated. If you are taking this course for CE, the CE exam will automatically be added to your basket when selecting CE credit.Certain states require that a proctor/monitor supervise the exam taking process.

The administrative cost of implicit taxes on financial assets - seigniorage, reserve requirements, lending targets, and interest ceilings - is low. But the excess burden that stems from the misallocation of resources is probably a much higher fraction of revenues than that of other taxes.

This publication thoroughly reviews the factual background to global trading, analyses the challenges posed to traditional taxation methods and discusses a range of policy options to tackle the problems.