The OECD report cited above illustrates Africa’s progress re: fighting tax evasion/illicit financial flows via transparency and exchange of information.
The report includes 38 African countries, co-produced by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, African Union Commission, and African Tax Administration Forum, covers the activities in 2021.
If you are doing business in Africa, this report is a very worthwhile read.
The OECE Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) has published a handbook explaining participation in the international compliance assurance program (ICAP).
This objective was started in 2018, and is now taking more substance. It is a three-stage process. The taxpayer provides relevant available transfer pricing documentation, and if all relevant jurisdictions and the taxpayer agree, a risk assessment is developed by the tax administrations. The final stage includes a risk graded letter.
The program does not provide absolute certainty, although it may provide learnings into potential gaps, while also providing tax administrations some limited certainty after their comprehensive review.
The handbook, link attached, provides additional details.
The OECD has, via a pilot program, developed five stages of ERM maturity against which tax administrations can self-assess their progress, for which anonymous data will also be helpful for the OECD going forward.
Multinationals have employed such tools for several years, and tax administrations can now assess their progress and risk status going forward.
Attached is EY’s summary of the recent meetings, in which comments were provided for various applications of Pillar I and II.
The EU has also expressed its desire to move forward with a digital service tax if the OECD falls behind in its targeted 2021 dates to prescribe rules. The OECD’s approach will also encounter issues re: dispute resolution in multiple countries, for which countries may not yet be ready for.
As the U.S. presidency is now decided, its direction will also influence the ongoing discussions for global implementation.
https://www.ey.com/en_gl/tax-alerts/oecd-inclusive-framework-political-leaders-promote-global-consen
Mark January 14-15 on your calendar to attend the OECD consultation meeting for Pillar One and Two. Details provided for reference.
The OECD recently issued a consultation document, with comments due by Dec. 18th, addressing dispute resolution mechanisms which arose from BEPS Action 14.
There are 27 questions for comment, including APAs, statistical categories, penalties/interest, timelines, training, etc.
The document is comprehensive and a valuable reference for review, and most importantly an opportunity for stakeholders to submit comments.
The Toolkit on Tax Treaty Negotiation (the “Toolkit”), has been prepared in the framework of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax (the “PCT”) by the IMF, the OECD, the UN and the WBG (the “PCT Partners”).
| Date and time: | Wednesday, November 4, 2020 9:00 am Eastern Standard Time (New York, GMT-05:00) Change time zone |
| Duration: | 2 hours 30 minutes |
Please join The Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) for the public consultation webinar of its draft Toolkit on Tax Treaty Negotiations. The toolkit authors and expert speakers will discuss how the toolkit can help developing countries, followed by a demo of the interactive, web-based version of the toolkit and a feedback roundtable with experienced negotiators.
PCT’s draft Toolkit on Tax Treaty Negotiations is a joint effort to provide capacity-building support to developing countries on tax treaty negotiations, building on existing guidance, particularly from the UN Manual for the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and Developing Countries (the “UN Manual”). The Toolkit provides tax officials with:
***Information on the steps involved in tax treaty negotiations
***Practical tips for treaty negotiators on the conduct of negotiations and negotiation styles
***Easy access to already publicly available resources that treaty negotiators will find useful
The design of the Toolkit also allows regular updates and improvements based on the feedback from users and experienced negotiators.
The PCT released the draft toolkit for public feedback from June 29th to September 24th, 2020 through its website and the KSP-TA hub. In addition to written comments, this virtual workshop aims to gather further feedback from stakeholders, particularly treaty negotiating teams.
The Toolkit represents a joint effort to provide capacity-building support to developing countries on tax treaty negotiation, building on previous contributions and reducing duplication and inconsistencies.
The OECD Corporate Tax Statistics, Second Edition, published this year reveals interesting trends, including the results of the anonymized and aggregated Country-by-Country (CbC) data which includes statistics from 26 countries for the 2016 tax year.
Tax administrations are moving toward more data analysis as an audit tool, and multinationals should be aware of this data which is used as a risk assessment tool, among others.
https://www.oecd.org/tax/tax-policy/corporate-tax-statistics-database.htm
The OECD International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) is a voluntary programme for a multilateral co-operative risk assessment and assurance process.
ICAP uses Country-by-Country (CbC) data as part of its risk assessment analysis and includes potential benefits for participating taxpayers re: certainty and avoiding double taxation, among other benefits.
ICAP is still fairly new in practice, although the process should be understood as a tool in pro-active compliance.
The UN tax committee members have issued a proposal re: taxation of digital service income. The proposal will be discussed in meetings later this year, making their way to become a part of the UN Model Tax Convention.
This will be an interesting dynamic, as the OECD is working diligently to finish their digital tax project this year. It is hopeful that both proposals will have a similar framework, avoiding a natural clash in methodology prone to dispute.
In summary, the UN and OECD digital tax proposals should be monitored to watch the progress, and changes prior to finalization envisioned by the end of this year.
Click to access TAX%20TREATY%20PROVISION%20ON%20PAYMENTS%20FOR%20DIGITAL%20SERVICES.pdf
The OECD provided this guidance in April, 2020, although the PE issue remains in many countries due to the COVID-19 crisis. The guidance revisits OECD PE guidelines and commentary, and also represents opportunities to revisit potential PE issues for employees working from home as companies adopt regional and global work from home policies.
The document highlights the fact that temporary COVID-19 interruptions should not change a permanent establishment (PE) determination, although tax administrations should publish more guidance on their domestic PE laws and determinations.
Home offices, agency PE and construction site PE situations are addressed. Summaries are also provided for place of effective management (POEM)/dual residence, income tax considerations for cross-border workers, and treaty residence issues.
The guidance is a valuable read, especially as countries are now starting to address these issues with more focus. The diminished fiscal growth may also change the direction of penalty abatement, especially in areas that may subject to interpretation.
Finland has interpreted the “new” guidance for Financial Transactions as merely a clarification of prior law.
This interpretation is not novel, and is a position sometimes taken in an audit, rightly or wrongly, for which taxpayers should be aware.
In tax administration statement No. VH/3605/00.01.00/2020, published July 1, Finland’s tax agency explained the relevance of the newly added chapter 10 of the OECD transfer pricing guidelines on financial transactions. With the sole exception of the new guidance on the relevance of a parent company’s credit rating in determining the credit rating of another group member for purposes of pricing intercompany debt, chapter 10 will be applied both prospectively and retrospectively, according to the statement. This includes the guidance on cash pooling, guarantees, captive insurance, and determination of risk-free and risk-adjusted returns.
“The new chapter 10 of the OECD transfer pricing guidelines on transfer pricing for financial transactions does not, in the opinion of the tax administration, contain fundamental new interpretative guidance, except for [determining] the creditworthiness of a separate company. Therefore, the guidelines can otherwise be used as a source of interpretation for tax years ended before the guidelines were published,” the statement says.
The OECD report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, resulting from the recent meeting in Riyadh this month, is attached for reference.
The report highlights that BEPS will continue to be a focus through 2025, indicating the increased transparency and reporting that is envisioned.
The recent issues of Pillar One and Two reflecting digital and global minimum taxation are addressed, based on the perception that these methodologies are a “must have” and not a “nice to have,” in the face of unilateral taxation efforts already underway.
The OECD recently published Transfer Pricing Guidance on Financial Transactions, an inclusive framework on BEPS Actions 4, 8-10. This guidance takes into consideration comments received in the July 2018 discussion draft on financial transactions.
The guidance represent an update to the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines.
This importance guidance presents guidance for:
Determination if the purported loan should be regarded as a loan
Treasury functions, including cash pooling, intracompany loans and hedging
Financial guarantees
Captive insurance
Risk-free and risk-adjusted rates of return
These principles are significant in scope and consequences that also allow countries to implement approaches in their domestic legislation, so there will be areas of dispute as this new guidance is implemented and interpreted.
The OECD has published its consultation document: Review of Country-by-Country Reporting (BEPS Action 13). Comments are requested no later than March 6th.
Chapter 1 contains general topics concerning the implementation and operation of BEPS Action 13, including the MNE group experience of CbC reporting implementation by jurisdictions, the use of CbC reports by tax administrations and other aspects of BEPS Action 13, being the master file and local file.
Chapter 2 contains topics concerning the scope of CbC reporting, including the definition of an MNE group, and the level and operation of consolidated group revenue threshold.
Chapter 3 contains topics concerning the content of a CbC report, including whether aggregate or consolidated information should be provided in Table 1, whether information in Table 1 should be presented by entity rather than by tax jurisdiction, and whether additional or different information is needed.
One key item in the report is in Section 12: Should Table 1 information be presented on an entity or jurisdictional basis? There are arguments pro and con, and this is an important item to monitor.
Strategizing Multinational Tax Risks 
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