Mid tier chartered accountants Mazars are staging a debate on the Fair Tax Mark tonight. Against the advice of those who have concern for my health I am taking part. This is what I intend to say in my opening comments (click the image for a bigger, easier to read version):
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Out of interest Richard, what program do you use for these speaking notes? You presentational style is similar to my own way of giving talks, and I’d be interested in trying out what you use.
I currently use iThoughts on both the Mac and iPad – the program works best on the latter
I have tried others but this is my favourite
Failure of BEPS – according to who?
Me
And many others
Including many in the OECD who think it has no chance
For the sake of completeness, it would be interesting to know who the many others are (apart from the usual suspects of tax activists) and who or what in the OECD has decided BEPS has failed. And this when the project isn’t even half way down its timeline.
I must say if that is your attitude, I am indeed surprised that you were not present in Paris earlier this week to state your case. Your group put together to hold BEPS to account cetainly didn’t do a good job with Action 6 – I’m not sure they really understood the issue.
Therefore I wonder if all these people who have declared BEPS a failure actually understand the issues and goals.
Those who are saying BEPS us a failure are not essentially those in the community I work with
They are those in the community given the task of undertaking the work anbd those from big business with whom they engage
Some say the deadline is impossible
Others clearly do not think the collective will to change exists
All mutter about the limited hope for effective change as a consequence
I can’t be in Paris right now – physically I’m not comfortable with the idea of travelling and it’s been suggested it’s not wise
The BEPS Monitoring Group submission on action point 6 is here http://bepsmonitoringgroup.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/bmg-treaty-abuse-submission.pdf
It looks competent to me
arent you worried about the power that the US has in the OECD BEPS discussion – apparently they are refusing to accept any type of amendment to their LOB provision in the new model. LOB isnt really compatible with EU freedom of establishment rules so there looks like an empasse developing here.
the timetable for this BEPS discussion is frankly stupid, and it will lead to extremely bad consequences in my opinion. They are refusing to accept any sort of discussion around huge groups of people who are going to be negatively affected by the current proposals (by which I mean pension funds and other collective investment groups. They only seem interested in listed PlC’s
It is clear the US is doing all it can go undermine BEPS
All my information confirms that is the case