Staff of the OECD, UN, IMF, and World Bank on November 6 released a report Options for Low Incomes Countries’ Effective and Efficient Use of Tax Incentives for Investment. The report was prepared at the request of the G20 Development Working Group. See: Report.
The European Commission on June 8 escalated its inquiry into whether EU countries’ tax ruling practices provide a selective advantage to companies in violation of state aid rules, asking 15 EU nations to provide the . . .
The OECD on May 5 released public comments to an OECD discussion draft that provides recommendations on how countries can design effective controlled foreign companies (CFC) rules to combat base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). Sixty-two comments were released in response to the guidance, issued April 3 in response to action 3 of the OECD/G20 BEPS. . .
The EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum (JTPF) has proposed modifications to the EU Arbitration Convention and revised Code of Conduct to better accommodate transfer pricing disputes. in a report released on its website, the JTPF . . .
The G20/OECD base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project is in its “decisive stages,” with only six months remaining until the 15 BEPS deliverables must be completed, Angel Gurría Secretary-General of the OECD said at a meeting of World Bank Group and International Monetary Fund officials, G20 Finance Ministers, and Central Bank Governors held . . .
The OECD on January 12 released public comments to discussion drafts under the OECD’s base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) action plan which deal with the prevention of tax treaty abuse and with the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment (PE) status. Eighty comments were released on the tax treaty . . .
The OECD will invite some developing nations to participate in OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) meetings, will hold regional consultations, and will work on capacity development in an effort to increase developing nation input in the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan decision-making . . .
UPDATE: Philippines Joining OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs: The Philippines will join the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs to work on a global response to BEPS beginning January 2015, the Philippines Department of Finance announced November 14. See, Philippines release.
Draft guidance released November 3 would modify the OECD transfer pricing guidelines to provide elective, simplified, transfer pricing rules for low value-adding intra-group services. The guidance was released in response to Action 10 of the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) plan, which directs the OECD to develop transfer pricing rules or special measures “to provide protection against common types of base eroding . . .
The European Commission on Oct. 7 announced that it has opened an in-depth investigation into whether Luxembourg granted private rulings to an Amazon subsidiary with too favorable terms, potentially violating EU rules on state aid.
The 2003 tax ruling, which is still in force, sets a methodology for the payment of a tax deductible royalty by Luxembourg-based Amazon EU Sàrl to a related limited liability. . .
An Australian Taxation Office (ATO) official, on May 22, confirmed that Australia and five other nations are collaborating to investigate the global tax planning of multinationals operating in the e-commerce industry.
Mark Konza, ATO Deputy Commissioner, International, said that Australia was “currently involved in a cooperative compliance approach” with five other nations. The collaboration led to the production of an
Members of the OECD task force charged with crafting rules to address the tax challenges of the digital economy still disagree on fundamental issues associated with the project. Speaking April 23, Edourad Marcus, co-chair of the task force, said members are still debating whether they should recommended modifications to the corporate income tax through. . .
Tax officials from 104 jurisdictions attending the November 5-6 meeting of the OECD’s Global Forum on VAT endorsed new OECD VAT/GST guidelines on the treatment of cross-border trade in services and intangibles and suggested that the OECD next consider taking on several new VAT . . .
Uganda on November 4 became the 90th signatory to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the OECD has . . .
The European Commission today announced that it has determined that advance pricing agreements granted to a Starbucks subsidiary by The Netherlands and to Fiat subsidiary by Luxembourg were illegal state aid because they sanctioned the allocation of too little profit to activities in those countries and . . .
The European Council on October 6 reached unanimous agreement on a directive that would require EU states to automatically exchange information about private tax rulings with other EU states. The agreement, reached at an ECOFIN meeting in Luxembourg, obliges . . .
The OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) project work should not be used to adopt protectionist measures, Josephine Teo, Singapore Minister of State for Finance and Transport . . .
Tax officials that attended an OECD Eurasia regional meeting on base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) welcomed the OECD’s effort to involve developing nations in the BEPS project, but said that barriers prevent nations in the region from participating, according to a report released March 10. These barriers were apparent as representatives of only six nations attended the regional meeting, held in Ankara, Turkey, on March 5-6.. . .
Materials that accompany a UK draft law suggest that OECD/G20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) guidance will recommend that country-by-country reporting data be disseminated using a tax treaty mechanism, vastly limiting the scope of the reform, tax campaigners say . . .
The OECD on November 25 released 2013 statistics on the mutual agreement procedure (MAP) caseload of OECD member counties and partner economies of Argentina, China, Latvia, and South Africa. According to an accompanying OECD . . .
A European Court of Justice (ECJ) judgment, released Sept. 17, will result in large VAT bills for banks, insurers, and other businesses considered VAT-exempt.
The decision, Skandia America Corp. v. Sweden, concludes that supplies of services from a non-EU company to its EU branch are subject to VAT when the branch belongs to a VAT group. Previously, provision of these services . . .
Update: For UK government’s October 14 reaction to Skandia, see HM
Revenue and Customs Brief 37 (2014) – VAT grouping rules
The European Court of Justice, in Kronos International Inc. released Sept 11, has ruled that a US registered company resident in Germany may assert that German tax rules violate free movement of capital, but the company may not claim freedom of establishment rights. The ECJ went on to reject the company’s contention that Germany’s tax rules in effect at the time, which permitted a set off for . . .
The European Commission, on June 11, announced that it is investigating whether individual transfer pricing rulings granted to Apple in Ireland, Starbucks in the Netherlands, and Fiat in Luxembourg sanctioned the allocation of too little profit to activities in those countries, thereby amounting to illegal state aid. The Commission has also initiated an infringement action against Luxembourg in connection with the matter.
The decision is part of a wider investigation into whether tax rulings and
. . .
-Update: The Luxembourg Finance Ministry, in a June 12 statement, said it would continue to defend against the Commission’s charges of illegal state aid, and said it still has doubts about the legality Commission requests for information, see statement.
Finance ministers from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, on 28 April, agreed to sign new global standards of automatic exchange of tax information at the October Global Forum meeting in Berlin. The countries will begin to automatically exchange information in 2017, with respect to data collected from 31 December 31, 2015. UK Press Release, German Press Release, French Press Release
The OECD BEPS project is not delivering promised international tax reform, and the result may be a breakdown of tax cooperation as countries abandon the project and take matters into their own hands, warns Richard Murphy, in an April 22 blog post.
The OECD on April 4 released public comments on a discussion draft under action 12 the base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan dealing with mandatory disclosure rules. The draft guidance, issued March 31, provides recommendations to tax administrations on how to structure mandatory disclosure rules . . .
The OECD on April 16 released a draft report under action 11 of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) plan on improving the availability and analysis of data on BEPS and on monitoring the effectiveness and economic impact of actions taken to address BEPS. The report concludes that lack of data . . .
The OECD on February 24 released 47 comments to a discussion draft on OECD international VAT/GST guidelines relating to the place of taxation of business-to-consumer (B2C) supplies of services and intangibles. The draft, prepared under . . .
Germany and the UK have agreed to a proposal that would put limits on preferential intellectual property regimes, including the UK’s patent box regime, for purposes of drafting uniform rules responding to Action 5 of the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) plan. The compromise proposal breaks . . .
Bureau of Internal Revenue Commissioner Kim S. Jacinto-Henares has been appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon as a member of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters in accordance with Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Resolution 2004/69, according to a November 4 press release.
The OECD on Oct. 7 published comments to Action 11 of its base erosion profits shifting (BEPS) initiative concerning the establishment of methodologies to collect and analyze data on BEPS and the actions to address it.
The OECD received 28 comments, including submissions from China and Costa Rica, prominent academics, trade associations, and advisers.
The comments were submitted in response to an August 4 OECD request for input.
The European Court of Justice, in Groupe Steria SCA, has ruled that EU freedom of establishment principles are infringed by French laws that give only domestic companies the opportunity to join a French group and take advantage of a special tax integration regime . . .
The European Commission, in January 26 announcements, has requested applications from transfer pricing specialists to serve on the EU Joint Transfer Pricing Forum (JTPF). The. . .
Pascal Saint-Amans, the director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, addressed Ireland’s recent tax announcements and his views on whether the US will implement or block the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting measures during an interview with the Irish Independent. See, Irish Independent.
Countries negotiating the OECD/G-20 base erosion profit shifting (BEPS) guidance have advanced a proposal to require countries that seek access to country-by-country reporting data to first to agree to enhanced dispute resolution, a US Treasury official said on Sept 17.
Speaking during a Deloitte webinar, Robert Stack, US Treasury Deputy . . .
The European Commission, on July 18, released “Taxation paper No 43: Financial Activities Taxes, Bank Levies and Systemic Risk,” written by Giuseppina Cannas, Jessica Cariboni, Massimo Marchesi, Gaëtan Nicodème, Marco Petracco Giudici, and Stefano Zedda. For the text, see Taxation paper.
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