OECD: Seven BEPS Actions issued September 16, 2014

COMMENT BY DR. D.N. ERASMUS – This is a summary of an article first published in a Bloomberg BNA Transfer Pricing Report available here – http://taxandaccounting.bna.com/btac/T11500/split_display.adp?fedfid=56424976&vname=tmtrnot&jd=a0f5h9x6g1&split=0

The Bloomberg BNA Transfer Pricing Report contains written extracts from the webinar presentation set out below.

www.IITF.net students are entitled to request a copy for STUDY PURPOSES only as part of the curriculum of the TJSL accredited tertiary tax course/module in the TJSL online LLM program from erasmud@tjsl.edu.

Here is the ACTUAL WEBINAR PRESENTATION on Sept. 16, 2014 – http://www.oecd.org/tax/beps-webcasts.htm

www.IITF.net will announce an update seminar to unpack the content of the 7 BEPS actions announced on September 16, 2014 – if you are interested in attending this seminar please send an email to daniel@taxriskmanagement.com with your contact details and in the SUBJECT HEADING please insert “7 BEPS SEMINAR”.

The OECD has released its first set of deliverables under its Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, a project to rewrite the global tax system in order to curb the kind of tax planning that has allowed large multinational companies to pay low effective tax rates through practices such as the shifting of intangible assets across borders. The organization issued more than 1,800 pages of documents comprising its work on seven action items: the digital economy, hybrid mismatch arrangements, harmful tax practices, treaty abuse, intangibles, documentation and a multilateral instrument to update the world’s network of bilateral tax treaties.

OECD Issues Work on Seven BEPS Actions; Immediate impact on Tax Planning predicted

Sept. 16 — The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has released the first components of its comprehensive plan for creating an agreed set of international rules for fighting base erosion and profit shifting and ending opportunities for double non-taxation.

The Sept. 16 deliverables are the first step toward the completion of the BEPS Action Plan. The documents will be formalized as soft legislation by the OECD when they are consolidated with the rest of the BEPS actions in 2015. The next set of deliverables is due in September 2015, and the final set in December of that year.

The BEPS plan is “a multilateral effort to tackle aggressive tax practices which erode the tax base of countries and artificially shift profits to low- or no-tax jurisdictions.” In the OECD’s efforts to ensure that businesses do not bear the burden of double taxation, the system has left gaps and they have produced double non-taxation. The OECD are closing that loophole now through rules in the BEPS package, including transfer pricing rules.

Seven Deliverables

The first 7 elements of the Action Plan released Sept 16 focus on helping countries to:

BEPS Webcast – Presentation of 2014 Deliverables from OECDtax

ensure the coherence of corporate income taxation at the international level, through new model tax and treaty provisions to neutralise hybrid mismatch arrangements (Action 2);
realign taxation and relevant substance to restore the intended benefits of international standards and to prevent the abuse of tax treaties (Action 6);
assure that transfer pricing outcomes are in line with value creation, through actions to address transfer pricing issues in the key area of intangibles (Action 8);
improve transparency for tax administrations and increase certainty and predictability for taxpayers through improved transfer pricing documentation and a template for country-by-country reporting (Action 13);
address the challenges of the digital economy (Action 1);
facilitate swift implementation of the BEPS actions through a report on the feasibility of developing a multilateral instrument to amend bilateral tax treaties (Action 15); and
counter harmful tax practices (Action 5).

The OECD recommendations will be a key item on the agenda when G20 finance ministers next convene at a meeting hosted by Australia’s Finance Minister Joe Hockey on 20-21 September in Cairns, Australia.

The proposed measures were agreed after a transparent and intensive consultation process between OECD, G20 and developing countries and stakeholders from business, labour, academia and civil society organisations.

These recommendations may be impacted by decisions taken with respect to the remaining elements of the BEPS Action Plan, which are scheduled to be presented to G20 Governments for final approval in 2015. At that point Governments will also address implementation measures for the Action Plan as a whole.

For further information on the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, including an Explanatory Statement, a background document, FAQs and the first deliverables to the G20, go to: www.oecd.org/tax/beps-2014-deliverables.htm.

Media queries should be directed to Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, (+33 6 2630 4923) or the OECD Media Office (+33 1 4524 9700).