{"id":35554,"date":"2016-12-01T07:02:22","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T07:02:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=35554"},"modified":"2016-12-01T07:10:32","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T07:10:32","slug":"the-current-state-of-play-on-tax-avoidance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2016\/12\/01\/the-current-state-of-play-on-tax-avoidance\/","title":{"rendered":"The current state of play on tax avoidance"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I am giving a talk this afternoon on the current state of play on corporate tax avoidance. It's not meant to be comprehensive or deeply technical. It's an opinion. These are my speaking notes (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54.png\" target=\"_blank\">there's a larger version here<\/a>):<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2016\/12\/01\/the-current-state-of-play-on-tax-avoidance\/screen-shot-2016-12-01-at-06-57-54\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-35555\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-35555\" src=\"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-550x796.png\" alt=\"screen-shot-2016-12-01-at-06-57-54\" width=\"550\" height=\"796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-550x796.png 550w, https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-207x300.png 207w, https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-768x1111.png 768w, https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-155x225.png 155w, https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54-91x132.png 91w, https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Screen-Shot-2016-12-01-at-06.57.54.png 1812w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In bullet points they read like this (with apologies for any typos):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The current state of play on tax avoidance\n<ul>\n<li>Three themes\n<ul>\n<li>Tax<\/li>\n<li>CBCR<\/li>\n<li>Politics<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Tax\n<ul>\n<li>Will remain a priority issue<\/li>\n<li>Little sign that rates will rise\n<ul>\n<li>UK committed to affordable reductions<\/li>\n<li>US may drive this process if it reforms its tax system<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Public concern is likely to continue\n<ul>\n<li>Populist politics us only driving the interest<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Moves to restrict lower tax rates to large companies alone may exacerbate this in the UK\n<ul>\n<li>And create demand for FTM to show this<\/li>\n<li>Small companies may get very angry about this<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Tax havens still exist and no sign this is changing for large companies\n<ul>\n<li>Little sign of progress on public disclosures<\/li>\n<li>Promised information exchange systems may not work as a result<\/li>\n<li>But keep an eye on this in the UK too: the new register if beneficial ownership in this country may not achieve its goals. The consequences could be unpredictable and include abandonment on the basis it us unenforceable<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Tax avoidance\n<ul>\n<li>The OECD process drags on but everyone agrees CBCR was the big gain\n<ul>\n<li>OECD CBCR is happening and is likely to work<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>EU\n<ul>\n<li>The CCCTB is the big plan\n<ul>\n<li>No more likely now than it has ever been<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The tax haven black list may be more important than many think<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The U.K.\n<ul>\n<li>No real progress on big corporate issues right now\n<ul>\n<li>But the interest cap is going to create some interesting changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The focus is on individuals<\/li>\n<li>But watch out for moves to tackle tax avoidance using small limited companies\n<ul>\n<li>An Office for Budget Responsibility theme in the Autumn Statement<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Academia\n<ul>\n<li>The biggest ever research project on the tax gap is now getting underway<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>CBCR\n<ul>\n<li>The EU\n<ul>\n<li>Fighting about whether CBCR is tax or accounting data right now<\/li>\n<li>If it is accounting data some public data may follow<\/li>\n<li>If not CBCR data publication may even be outlawed despite the fact some forms already exist<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The OECD\n<ul>\n<li>Going well\n<ul>\n<li>But still in secret<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Civil society \/ academia\n<ul>\n<li>Building a database of all available CBCR data to prove its worth<\/li>\n<li>A process ongoing right now<\/li>\n<li>Further developments planned<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Politics\n<ul>\n<li>Does Brexit change everything?\n<ul>\n<li>Will we go fir tax haven UK?<\/li>\n<li>Could our tax havens end up on the EU tax haven blacklist?<\/li>\n<li>Will we create independent Rac and accounting rules, maybe to challenge the CCCTB?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Does Trump change everything?\n<ul>\n<li>Will US tax rates fall?<\/li>\n<li>Will repatriation become normal?<\/li>\n<li>Will the Irish games all come to an end?<\/li>\n<li>Will there be less to talk about as a result?<\/li>\n<li>Who knows?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The EU\n<ul>\n<li>Will it survive?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The U.K.\n<ul>\n<li>Will Labour ever form a coherent policy on anything?\n<ul>\n<li>Clue: there is a two letter answer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Does anyone know what devolution of corporation tax really means\n<ul>\n<li>Clue: there is a two letter answer<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>The big question: willingness?\n<ul>\n<li>Are politicians and their tax authorities willing to:<\/li>\n<li>Measure day gaps properly?<\/li>\n<li>Resource their tax offices to collect the missing monies?<\/li>\n<li>Use the legislation they have created to beat identified abuses?<\/li>\n<li>It is not clear that they are\n<ul>\n<li>The jury is out<\/li>\n<li>And their decision may be the most important of all<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I am giving a talk this afternoon on the current state of play on corporate tax avoidance. It&#8217;s not meant to be comprehensive or deeply<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2016\/12\/01\/the-current-state-of-play-on-tax-avoidance\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tax-avoidance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35554\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}