About 100 EY firms have contributed to an August report on how the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan transfer pricing guidelines and documentation rules are being implemented throughout the world. See: EY .
Shane Koball has joined Baker & McKenzie as a director of economics, the firm announced July 14. Koball, who is based in . . .
The European Commission on March 18 released a proposal that would require EU states to automatically exchange information about their tax rulings with other EU states. The Commission also announced plans to study the possibility of imposing greater tax transparency requirements on companies operating in the EU. The proposal, first announced by EU Commission President . . .
The OECD has released a guide for its Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) initiative, a program which recruits currently serving or recently retired tax officials to work alongside tax officials in developing nations on international tax audits and audit-related . . .
The UK and Germany have agreed to a joint proposal on harmful tax practices which limits the patent box tax break, writes Reuters, quoting unnamed German government officials. The countries will present the proposal to the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices. For details, see Reuters.
Michael Durst has joined the UN Committee of Experts Subcommittee on Natural Resources Taxation, reports the International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD) in an October 10 release.
Durst is an ICTD researcher and writes . . .
A new paper was released on the SSRN website: “Should a Multinational Firm Place Part of its Supply Chain in a Tax Haven?: Strategies to Enable International Tax Arbitrage,” by Masha Shunko (Purdue), Hung Do (Vermont) & Andy Tsay (Santa Clara) – SSRN
Luxembourg has brought two actions in EU General Court asking the court to annul European Commission decisions that direct Luxembourg to provide information on its intellectual property taxation scheme and to provide the Commission with a list of advance tax rulings issued in 2010, 2011, and 2012 involving cross-border transactions . . .
The Swiss Federal Council, on June 20, announced that Switzerland will initial an agreement with the European Union Economic and Financial Affairs Council outlining principles and intentions concerning Switzerland’s business taxation regime . . .
Witnesses testifying before the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on October 29 urged the committee to recommend ratification of eight pending US tax treaties and protocols, highlighting key aspects of the . . .
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker told parliamentary committees January 17 that the EU should adopt rules governing private rulings . . .
Tax officials at a June 6 OECD consultation suggested that draft guidance on cost contribution arrangements (CCAs) will be modified to clarify how to value CCA contributions. Officials also requested stakeholder feedback to help refine aspects of draft guidance on transfer pricing for hard-to-value . . .
The US Treasury Department has updated its FATCA website, reporting that the Holy See has signed a Model 1 intergovernmental agreement (IGA) with the US as of June 10. The text of the agreement is available. See, FATCA IGA – Holy See.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on March 26 released a draft report that concludes that developing countries are losing about $100 billion every year from MNE tax avoidance through use of offshore hubs. Some 30% of cross-border corporate investment . . .
The European Commission on December 19 requested formal consultations with the US in the World Trade Organization (WTO) concerning recent Washington State legislation extending tax subsidies to Boeing and other aerospace firms from 2024 through 2040, estimated at USD 8.7 billion. The Commission maintains that Washington State tax subsidies, originally set to expire in 2024, have already been declared WTO inconsistent. See, EU Commission release.
The OECD’s planned guidance on the profit split method will likely consist of a series of examples that demonstrate when the method is considered the best method for transfer pricing purposes and how it should be . . .
Draft OECD guidance on hard-to-value intangibles released June 4 would permit tax administrations to consider ex post evidence of the actual financial outcome of a transfer of intangibles to determine the appropriateness of the ex ante pricing arrangement, including whether arm’s length parties would have used contingent pricing . . .
The OECD on June 1 released submissions from 45 organizations commenting on proposed revisions to the OECD transfer pricing guidelines dealing with cost contribution. . .
OECD and G20 countries have agreed to a framework for country-by-country reporting by multinational corporations, to the criteria to assess whether preferential intellectual property regimes are harmful, and to a plan to create a multilateral instrument to implement tax treaty-related measures, the OECD said February 6. The agreements, which implement OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan, will be . . .
UPDATE (2/10/2015): G20 finance ministers endorse plan for multilateral instrument: G20 finance ministers have agreed to a mandate to create a multilateral instrument to implement tax treaty-related measures under OECD/G20 the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan, the ministers said in a communique following their February 9-10 meeting in Istanbul . . .
The European Commission on December 19 invited interested parties to comment on its investigation into whether an advance pricing agreement (APA) granted by the Netherlands to a Starbucks subsidiary constitutes illegal state aid. The Commission said it currently. . .
The European Commission intends to analyze leaked Luxembourg private tax rulings for evidence of illegal state aid, the European Union’s new competition chief, Margrethe Vestager, said November 20. “We consider the Lux-Leaks documents as market information. We will examine [them] and also therefore evaluate whether or not this will lead us to . . .
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on November 5 published confidential tax documents of PwC clients on the Internet accompanied by a series of news stories that conclude that Luxembourg has been a long-time partner in multinational corporation tax avoidance. The leaked documents include 548 Luxembourg advance rulings, or comfort letters; corporate tax returns . . .
Luxembourg defends tax rulings: “The rulings in Luxembourg are compatible with the Luxembourg legislation, compatible with the EU-legislation, and compatible with the OECD-conventions, and any other international conventions,” Minister of Finance, Pierre Gramegna, said November 6, at the Ecofin council in Brussels. See speech.
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Jean-Claude Juncker should resign says Bloomberg: Jean-Claude Juncker, the new president of the European Commission, has a “clear conflict of interest” as head of the body investigating the tax practices he oversaw as Luxembourg’s prime minister, says Bloomberg in a November 9 opinion piece. See, Bloomberg.
The European Commission has concluded that public dissemination of country-by-country reporting by banks will not have a negative impact on the economy, paving the way for public release of the data by January 1, 2015. “At this stage, the public country-by-country reporting of information under Article 89 of Directive 2013/36/EU is not expected to have significant negative economic impact, in particular on competitiveness, investment, . . .
Monaco on October 13 because the 84th jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Release.
The European Commission, on August 22, took another step toward addressing concerns that the Netherlands’ corporate tax exemption for Dutch public enterprises violates state aid, asking . . .
The OECD’s Working Party 6 (WP6) has decided to not add materiality thresholds to OECD guidance on transfer pricing documentation and country-by-country reporting, WP6 delegates said on May 19, during a day-long consultation on a draft of the guidance.
US delegate, Michael McDonald, said that WP6 decided it can not provide any explicit guidance on materiality other than to say that materiality is a local country issue.
“Quantitative materiality thresholds are very difficult. . .
The G-20 finance ministers have endorsed the final reports responding to the OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan . . .
The European Commission has announced that its current view is that Belgium’s excess profits tax ruling system provides for a selective advantage tantamount to State aid, and has requested stakeholder comments on this determination by July 5. According to the Commission, about 50 companies have used the program to reduce . . .
The OECD on May 22 released a revised discussion draft under the OECD /G20 base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan dealing with the prevention of tax treaty abuse. The draft, prepared by Working Party 1 of the OECD’s Committee. . .
The UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters has released draft changes to the UN model tax treaty and other documents in advance of its annual meeting to be held October 27–31 in Geneva. Included is a new draft article and commentary on payments for technical services; a proposal for a new article on taxation of fees for cyber-based services; a proposal to clarify the meaning of “the same or a connected project” for purposes of determining a permanent establishment for service providers under Article 5; amendments to treaty rules to address hybrid entities; and the work plan of the Committee of Expert’s Subcommittee on Extractive Industry Taxation for Developing Countries.
The Committee also released proposed amendments to the commentary to Article 9, dealing with transfer pricing. A . . .
Researcher previews UN debate. Martin Hearson, a doctoral researcher at the London School of Economics and Political Science, has previewed the UN debate on changes to the UN Model, including draft amendments to the Article 9 commentary; a proposal to tax indirect transfers of capital assets; and the new draft services article, in an October 27 blog post. See, Martin Hearson
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USCIB contests proposed change to UN Model’s transfer pricing commentary: In an October 24 letter, William J. Sample of the United States Council for International Business states that if adopted, the proposed modification to the commentary to Article 9 of the UN Model will lead to increased disputes and double taxation. Sample condemned the lack of input by stakeholders in the UN process and argues that is inappropriate for non-OECD countries that participated in OECD transfer pricing guideline negotiations and obtained concessions to “undercut” those negotiations by arguing elsewhere for positions that were rejected. USCIB
The UN Economic and Social Council on October 7 announced the appointment of three new members to the Committee of Experts on International . . .
OECD tax officials have expressed dissatisfaction with a blacklist of 30 tax havens prepared by the European Commission, as have several countries on the list . . .
G20 leaders have endorsed the global common standard for automatic exchange of tax information and approve of progress made on the G20/OECD base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan, according to a communiqué released November 16, following a summit in Brisbane, Australia. The leaders said they are committed to . . .
Tax authorities from 51 jurisdictions have signed a multilateral competent authority agreement, laying the groundwork for automatic exchange of financial account information under the OECD/G-20 Common Reporting Standard beginning 2017 . . .
Tax officials from 38 countries pledged to increase their cooperation and collaboration to better handle the increased workload associated with implementing OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) . . .
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