I have been sent this advice from the USA which has been published recently:

I was asked for my thoughts and reacted as follows:

a) Remember this country-by-country reporting data only goes to the IRS right now and so is meant to be confidential;

b) The Pentagon clearly does not trust the IRS and expects this to leak;

c) They clearly believe that the data is powerful and reveals information way beyond tax usefulness alone;

d) We should be encouraged by that;

e) They have not exempted anyone else;

f) I cannot see other countries following suit on this - because no one else has a defence industry like the USA, including the UK;

g) We should, however, anticipate this argument for special interest pleading when country-by-country reporting data goes public, as it will;

h) That can only be because there is something to hide!

Now the question is what are they hiding that country-by-country reporting reports?