Work on the development of the Multilateral‎ Instrument to implement the tax treaty-related Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan began on 27 May 2015 in Paris. As per the OECD/G20 mandate, the ad hoc Group that will complete the work under Action 15 has been established, with over 80 countries participating.

El Salvador signed today the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, becoming the 86th signatory to the most comprehensive instrument for boosting international co-operation against offshore tax evasion.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

Public comments are invited on a discussion draft which deals with work in relation to Action 8 of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

Pushing forward efforts to boost transparency in international tax matters, the OECD today released a package of measures for the implementation of a new Country-by-Country Reporting plan developed under the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

On 15 May 2015, interested parties were invited to comment on a revised discussion draft on Action 7 (Prevent the Artificial Avoidance of PE Status) of the BEPS Action Plan.

The European Commission presented today an Action Plan to fundamentally reform corporate taxation in the EU. The Action Plan sets out a series of initiatives to tackle tax avoidance, secure sustainable revenues and strengthen the Single Market for businesses.

On 22 May 2015, interested parties were invited to comment on a revised discussion draft which includes proposals on how to deal with the follow-up work on Action 6 (Prevent treaty abuse) of the BEPS Action Plan.

On 4 June 2015, interested parties were invited to comment on a discussion draft on Action 8 (Hard-to-value intangibles) of the BEPS Action Plan.

In line with the international movement towards more transparency and exchange of information, Mauritius has taken a significant step to enhance its exchange of information legal framework and has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Governments are under-utilising taxation as a tool to curb the environmental consequences of energy use, foregoing revenue and weakening their attack on the principal source of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change and air pollution, according to new OECD analysis.

The International Tax Dialogue (ITD) is organising its 6th global conference at the OECD. This year’s conference will focus on Tax and the Environment, an issue of growing importance and of direct relevance in the lead up to the COP21 meeting taking place later in the year. The ITD is a joint initiative of the EC, IDB, IMF, OECD, World Bank and CIAT.

Concerns around potential losses of competitiveness as a result of unilateral action on carbon pricing are often central for policy makers contemplating the introduction of such instruments. This paper is a review of literature on ex post empirical evaluations of the impacts of carbon prices on indicators of competitiveness as employed in the literature, including employment, output or exports, at different levels of aggregation.

Taxes are potentially among the most effective ways of cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are currently – with very few exceptions – underused; and even where used, they are frequently designed in a sub-optimal way.

Governments should set prudent debt targets to ensure that public finances serve to promote economic growth and stability, according to new OECD research.

The OECD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a new initiative to help developing countries bolster domestic revenues by strengthening their tax audit capacities.

The OECD is holding three tax events on the side-lines of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Taxpayer education is the bridge linking tax administration and citizens and a key tool to transform tax culture. Covering innovative strategies in 28 countries, this publication offers ideas and inspiration for taxpayer education, literacy and outreach. The presentation ceremony, which took place in Bolivia, was attended by representatives of EuropeAid, EUROsociAL, Bolivia's National Tax Service and the OECD.

The OECD today releases three new reports to help jurisdictions and financial institutions implement the global Standard for automatic exchange of financial account information.

Tax administrations continue to face the challenges of improving their performance while reducing costs, decreasing compliance burdens for taxpayers tackling non-compliance. Improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programmes that will further benefit their citizens.

Increasing tax revenues and ensuring sustainable domestic resource mobilisation will be critical as emerging Asian economies seek to boost the provision of public goods and services and improve economic growth and living standards.

SMEs form the vast majority of businesses in most countries and contribute strongly to employment and economic growth, but they face particular challenges, particularly as concerns access to finance. Governments have a range of policy levers, including tax policies, that can and should be used to support the growth and development of SMEs, according to a new OECD report.

Vast amounts are lost to illicit financial flows, including tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and corruption. These crimes threaten the strategic, political and economic interests of both developed and developing countries. In a world of limited resources and increasing complexity, it is essential for government authorities to work closely together in a “whole of government” approach to best address these challenges.

Healthcare costs are rising so fast in advanced economies that they will become unaffordable by mid-century without reforms, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today called on all countries to fully engage with the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and said advanced and emerging economies had a particular responsibility to translate the global goals into national policy and to support developing countries in doing the same.

This event will review progress on tax and development made in 2015, including in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Financing for Development Conference, the Addis Tax Initiative, the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB).

The OECD presented today the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules to be discussed by G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

G20 finance ministers endorsed the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules during a meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

On 21-23 October 2015, the Eastern Europe and Central Asia Regional Meeting and Governmental Workshop on BEPS discussed the outcomes of the BEPS project, and how countries can engage in the implementation and monitoring of the measures adopted on an equal footing.

Keeping tax transparency high on the agenda of Governments and taking steps to ensure a worldwide level playing field will top the agenda during the 8th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29-30 October 2015.

This stocktaking report profiles the tax treatment of funded private pension plans across all OECD and EU countries. The information refers to 2015 or the latest year with available data and covers all types of funded private pension plans in each country.

Major implementation milestones are being met by members of the world’s leading forum on tax transparency as the international community continues to move ahead towards greater tax transparency. The imminent shift to the automatic exchange of information will send a strong warning to tax evaders.

The CREDAF Working group on BEPS held its second physical meeting in Paris on 2 November 2015, following the one that took place in Kinshasa on 27 May 2015. Twenty five participants gathered to discuss the work to be performed within the implementation phase of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

Uganda today signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers’ rights.

In-depth discussions took place this week as the international community continues to make progress on the international tax agenda. Officials from more than 100 countries drawing from tax authorities, ministries of finance, development agencies, as well as regional and international organisations, business and civil society came together in a series of meetings hosted by the OECD.

Governments have taken an important step towards ensuring that consumption taxes on cross-border transactions are effectively paid in the jurisdiction where products are consumed, while minimizing the risks that uncoordinated tax rules distort international trade.

On 11-12 November 2015, the first Asia-Pacific Technical Meeting on BEPS discussed the outcomes of the BEPS project, and the challenges countries face in the region in implementing BEPS, and explored how countries in the region can engage in the implementation, on-going development and monitoring of the measures adopted, on an equal footing.

The leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies today endorsed overhauled global standards proposed by the OECD to crack down on tax evasion and reaffirmed the organisation’s central role in helping governments ensure strong, sustainable and inclusive growth.

As part of the OECD’s work to improve the timeliness of processing and completing mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases under tax treaties and to enhance the transparency of the MAP process, the OECD makes available annual statistics on the MAP caseloads of all its member countries and of non-OECD economies that agree to provide such statistics.

On 17-18 November 2015, a new regional meeting as well as a governmental workshop on BEPS was held for the Latin America and the Caribbean region to discuss the outcomes of the BEPS Project, and the ways that the countries can explore to be involved on an equal footing in the implementation and the monitoring phase of the measures adopted.

Israel signed today the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, making it the 91st jurisdiction to join the world’s leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating offshore tax evasion.

Niue today signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers’ rights.

Corporate tax revenues have been falling across OECD countries since the global economic crisis, putting greater pressure on individual taxpayers to ensure that governments meet financing requirements, according to new data from the OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics publication.

OECD urges efforts to better price carbon as new analysis finds that 90% of CO2-emissions are priced below EUR 30 per tonne, a low-end estimate of climate damage, and 60% are not priced at all. Effective Carbon Rates in the OECD and Selected Partner Economies calculates effective carbon rates (ECR) on CO2-emissions from energy use for 41 countries which together use 80% of global emissions.

On 1 December 2015 the OECD agreed on a common way forward in response to a request submitted by the European Commission pursuant to a mandate from EU Member States to include additional fields in the CRS XML Schema. This request was made further to the work of the European Commission and the EU Member States on the implementation of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information in Tax Matters within the European Union.

On 17 December 2015 Greenland signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to exchange in 2017.

The European Commission presented today a series of measures for a coordinated EU-wide response to corporate tax avoidance, notably through implementation of the global standards developed under the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project. The Commission proposal would align tax laws in all 28 EU countries, in order to fight aggressive tax practices by multinational enterprises

Senegal today signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Senegal is the 11th country of the African continent to sign the Convention and the 93rd jurisdiction to join it. Simultaneously to signing the Convention, Senegal today also became the 32nd signatory of Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports (CbC MCAA).

Kenya today signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. Kenya is the 12th African country to sign the Convention and the 94th jurisdiction to join it.