In the aftermath of the release of the “Paradise Papers”, 200 delegates from more than 90 delegations met in Yaoundé, Cameroon for the 10th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes which now includes 147 countries and jurisdictions.

Tax burdens and revenue collection across the OECD countries are reaching levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, the tax mix varies enormously across the advanced economies.

Social security contributions and consumption taxes give way to personal income taxes, as corporate income taxes fail to recover

The OECD is now gathering input for the Stage 1 peer reviews of Australia, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Malta, Mexico, New Zealand and Portugal, and invites taxpayers to submit input on specific issues relating to access to MAP, clarity and availability of MAP guidance and the timely implementation of MAP agreements for each of these jurisdictions using the taxpayer input questionnaire.

On 28 November 2017, an OECD delegation met Bakhyt Sultanov, the Kazakhstan Minister of Finance, in Astana to launch an initiative to assist Kazakhstan in the implementation of the measures to tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS has released additional guidance to give certainty to tax administrations and MNE Groups alike on the implementation of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting (BEPS Action 13).

As part of continuing efforts to improve tax transparency and the international tax framework, the OECD has released the first analysis of individual countries' progress in spontaneously exchanging information on tax rulings in accordance with Action 5 of the BEPS package of measures released in October 2015.

On August 1st 2017, interested parties were invited to provide comments on the discussion draft of a toolkit on the Taxation of Offshore Indirect Transfers. The Platform for Collaboration on Tax is grateful to the commentators for their input and now publishes the public comments received during the consultation period.

As part of continuing efforts to improve the international tax framework and tax certainty, the OECD has released the second round of analyses of individual country efforts to improve dispute resolution mechanisms. These seven peer review reports represent the second round of stage 1 evaluations of how countries are implementing new minimum standards agreed in the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

Today, at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, The Hon. Kevin Peter Turnquest, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of the Bahamas signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Convention”) in the presence of OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Qatar has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC MCAA), bringing the total number of signatories to 68.

Today, Jersey deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting ("multilateral convention") with the OECD. Subsequently, on 20 December, Curaçao joined the multilateral convention.

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which is the basis for the automatic annual exchange of information on offshore financial accounts to the tax authorities of the residence country of account holders. At present, over 100 jurisdictions have publicly committed to implement the CRS, with half of them having started the exchange of CRS information in September and a further 53 set to follow in 2018.

Today, a further important step was taken to implement Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting in accordance with the BEPS Action 13 minimum standard, through activations of automatic exchange relationships under the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of CbC Reports ("the CbC MCAA").

Today, at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, the Director-General of Revenue and the delegated Competent Authority of Panama, Publio Ricardo Cortés, has signed the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎ (CRS MCAA), in presence of OECD Deputy Secretary-General Masamichi Kono.

On 11 December 2017, interested parties were invited to provide comments on a discussion draft on model mandatory disclosure rules. The model rules are intended to target promoters and service providers with a material involvement in the design, marketing or implementation of CRS avoidance arrangements or offshore structures.

A pilot of a new FTA programme for the multilateral risk assessment of large MNE groups was launched at an event today in Washington DC, hosted by the Internal Revenue Service.

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS has released additional guidance to give certainty to tax administrations and MNE Groups alike on the implementation of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting (BEPS Action 13). The Inclusive Framework also approved updates to the results for preferential regime reviews conducted by the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) in connection with BEPS Action 5.

Taxes are effective at cutting harmful emissions from energy use, but governments could make better use of them. Greater reliance on energy taxation is needed to strengthen efforts to tackle the principal source of both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, according to a new OECD report.

Major international organizations -including the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank Group- today called on governments from around the world to strengthen and increase the effectiveness of their tax systems to generate the domestic resources needed to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and promote inclusive economic growth.

This paper presents statutory tax rates on several forms of capital income, including dividends, interest on bonds and bank accounts, and capital gains on shares and real property, including integration between the corporate and personal levels. It updates the rates from an earlier tax working paper and extends the analysis to consider the debt-equity bias of the tax system when the personal level of taxation is considered.

Public input is sought both to obtain further evidence on the misuse of CBI/RBI schemes and on effective ways for preventing abuse.

This paper presents data on carryover provisions in 34 countries and compares their effects on the basis of two comparable indices. Empirical results show that in most countries corporate tax is not perfectly symmetric, suggesting the existence of tax-induced distortions towards less risky investments.

The OECD and Brazil today launched a joint project to examine the similarities and gaps between the Brazilian and OECD approaches to valuing cross-border transactions between associated firms for tax purposes. The project will also assess the potential for Brazil to move closer to the OECD’s transfer pricing rules, which are a critical benchmark for OECD member countries and followed by countries around the world.

A OCDE e o Brasil lançaram hoje um projeto conjunto para examinar as semelhanças e lacunas entre a abordagem brasileira e a abordagem da OCDE com relação à avaliação das transações internacionais entre empresas associadas para efeitos fiscais.

During a meeting on International Tax Reform, the Ministry of Finance and the OECD launched a programme on "Enhancing Domestic Resource Mobilisation in Egypt through a better tax and exchange of information system". The project, financed by the EU, provides EUR 1.2 million in funding over two and a half years, and will assist Egypt in the implementation of the new international standards to tackle tax avoidance and tax evasion.

As the BEPS Action 14 continues its efforts to make dispute resolution more timely, effective and efficient, eight more peer review reports have been released today. These eight reports highlight how well jurisdictions are implementing the Action 14 minimum standard as agreed to in the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

More than 110 countries and jurisdictions have agreed to review two key concepts of the international tax system, responding to a mandate from the G20 Finance Ministers to work on the implications of digitalisation for taxation.

This report outlines the activities and achievements of the OECD’s tax agenda, while looking ahead at the further progress needed, in particular through the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS. It also provides a Progress Report to the G20 by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

The additional guidance resulting sets out high-level general principles, which countries agree are relevant and applicable in attributing profits to PEs in accordance with applicable treaty provisions. It also provides examples on the attribution of profits to certain types of PEs arising from the changes to the PE definition under BEPS Action 7.

The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “Convention”) will enter into force on 1 July 2018, marking a significant step in international efforts to update the existing network of bilateral tax treaties and reduce opportunities for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.

Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) dipped in 2016, falling further behind average OECD country levels, but a recovery is likely in subsequent years, according to Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2018. The average tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 22.7% in 2016, a fall of 0.3 percentage points since 2015, the report says.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today nine peer review reports assessing compliance with international standards on tax transparency.

Today, the OECD published a new set of bilateral exchange relationships established under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA) which for the first time includes activations by Panama. The OECD also released the second edition of the Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook.

The taxation of personal savings and wealth varies widely, offering governments significant scope for tax reforms that simultaneously improve both the efficiency and fairness of their tax systems, according to two new OECD reports.

The consultation document assessed how these schemes are used in an attempt to circumvent the CRS; identified the types of schemes that present a high risk of abuse; reminded stakeholders of the importance of correctly applying relevant CRS due diligence procedures in order to help prevent such abuse; and explained next steps the OECD will undertake to further address the issue, assisted by public input.

Today’s revelations from the “Daphne Project” on the Maltese residence and citizenship by investment schemes underline the crucial importance of the the OECD’s work to ensure that the integrity of the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS) is preserved and that any circumvention is detected and addressed.

Public comments are invited on the future revision of Chapter IV, “Administrative Approaches to Avoiding and Resolving Transfer Pricing Disputes” of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines, and the future revision of Chapter VII, “Special Considerations for Intra-Group Services”, of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines.

Bahrain has become the 115th jurisdiction to join the Inclusive Framework on BEPS (“IF”). The IF was established in January 2016, after the G20 Leaders urged the timely implementation of the BEPS package released in October 2015 and called on the OECD to develop a more inclusive framework with the involvement of interested non-G20 countries and jurisdictions, including developing economies.

The United Arab Emirates has become the 116th jurisdiction to join the Inclusive Framework on BEPS (“IF”). The IF was established in January 2016, after the G20 Leaders urged the timely implementation of the BEPS package released in October 2015 and called on the OECD to develop a more inclusive framework with the involvement of interested non-G20 countries and jurisdictions, including developing economies.

Governments are continuing to make swift progress in bringing their preferential tax regimes in compliance with the OECD/G20 BEPS standards to improve the international tax framework. Today the Inclusive Framework released the updates to the results for preferential regime reviews conducted by the Forum on Harmful Tax Practices (FHTP) in connection with BEPS Action 5.

The OECD has released the first peer reviews of the Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting initiative, demonstrating strong progress toward the imminent implementation of a key element in continuing efforts to improve taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) worldwide.

Peru is taking important steps toward fighting corruption and fostering greater transparency and exchange of information by completing the necessary steps to become a Party to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention) and the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Today, Serbia deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (multilateral convention or MLI) with the OECD’s Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, therewith underlining its strong commitment to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by multinational enterprises.

Today, in Ouagadougou, an OECD delegation met the Minister of Economy, Finance and Development of Burkina Faso, Mrs. Hadizatou Rosine Coulibaly, to discuss the progress made in the implementation of new international tax standards.

This draft toolkit has been prepared by the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development (IGF), under a programme of co-operation with the OECD, to help governments anticipate and limit the cost of mining tax incentives. It is part of wider efforts to address some of the challenges developing countries are facing in raising revenue from their mining sectors.

Today, the OECD released two reports containing Guidance for Tax Administrations on the Application of the Approach to Hard-to-Value Intangibles under BEPS Action 8; and Revised Guidance on the Application of the Transactional Profit Split Method under BEPS Action 10.

A new database providing detailed and comparable tax revenue information for 80 countries around the world – and which and will expand to cover more than 90 countries by the end of 2018 – was unveiled today during the 5th plenary meeting of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS, held in Lima, Peru.

Public comments received on the scope of the future revisions of Chapter IV (Administrative Approaches) and Chapter VII (Intra-group services) of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia today signed the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, making it the 124th jurisdiction to join the world’s leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating cross-border tax evasion.