The OECD report to the G20 finance ministers meeting at the weekend was interesting. It said (and I have abbreviated a little): The OECD’s work on BEPS is also being informed by engagement with business and civil society. In general, business recognises that there is a need to restore trust in the international tax system by revisiting the tax rules.
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As many will know, the OECD is consulting on the issue of multinational corporation tax avoidance (or Base Erosion and Profit Shifting – BEPS – as they call it). This is in advance of the June G8 meeting. The OECD asked for comments from civil society comment at ridiculously short notice. The questions they asked and the answers
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The following was written by friend and long term collaborator in tax campaigning on international development issues Alex Cobham and was published on the blog of the Center for Global Development,  for whom he works. I thought it well worth sharing, and do so with permission: For developing countries, the most important part of last
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Fifty eight NGOs and campaigning organisations, of which the Tax Justice Network is one, have issued a joint statement on the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project today. The report is entitled ‘No more shifty business‘ (for which I am entirely to blame, along with some of the drafting). As the combined NGOs are saying: The new briefing paper, No more shifty business, calls on
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Rumour reaches me that Pascal St Amans of the OECD when speaking at the pro-tax haven and anti-corporation tax Oxford Centre for Business Taxation yesterday confirmed that there was no prospect of the OECD changing the rules of international taxation to replace the utterly discredited arm's length transfer pricing rules that have permitted so much
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Jesse Drucker from Bloomberg is the man who turned Google’s tax affairs into a global issue, with a little help from me. Now he’s at it again, pointing out all the deficiencies in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development – the organisation charged with putting right the problems its rules on international tax have created (a process a bit like asking
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In the Lords report on the General Anti-Abuse Rule, out this morning, they note that the GAAR will have only limited impact on international tax planning (even though my specific views are noted). In that case they add: The practice of arbitraging competing tax jurisdictions to minimise taxation must be dealt with by negotiation at the
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I think the new OECD report on tax avoidance, out today, provides some very clear evidence that tax campaigning has worked. As Chapter 1 says: There is a growing perception that governments lose substantial corporate tax revenue because of planning aimed at shifting profits in ways that erode the taxable base to locations where they are subject
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The OECD has published a new paper on the importance of knowing the beneficial ownership of companies, on which I have already commented today. Admittedly this is a discussion paper, not a policy statement, but the mere fact that the OECD is publishing this is important as the abstract could not be close to the tax justice agenda on this issue if it
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