The OECD has moved to the next stage of its work on countering multinational tax avoidance and profit shifting and has elected the working group chair to start the drafting of the multilateral instrument to implement the tax treaty-related Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan, which would allow governments to swiftly amend tax treaties to counter avoidance
As per the OECD/G20 mandate, the ad hoc group that will complete the work under Action 15, essentially to write the treaty amendment rules, with over 80 countries participating, but no representation as yet from the US. The UK is at the forefront of the reform plans with a UK chair leading the working group.
Action 15 of the BEPS project focuses on developing a multilateral instrument to allow countries to swiftly amend their tax treaties to implement the tax treaty-related BEPS recommendations.
At a meeting on 27 May, a UK lead was appointed to chair the group - Mike Williams, director, business and international tax at the UK Treasury, supported by three vice chairs, China’s Liao Tizhong, Mohammed Amine Baina of Morocco and Kim S. Jacinto-Henares of the Philippines.
Participants agreed on a number of procedural issues so that the substantive work can begin at an inaugural meeting which will take place on 5-6 November 2015 (back-to-back with the 20th Annual Tax Treaty Meeting for government officials which will take place on 3-4 November 2015).
A number of international organisations will also be invited to participate in the work as observers.
So far over 80 countries have joined the ad hoc group, although the US has not, which include (as of 28 May 2015): Andorra, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Bhutan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, UK, Uruguay, Viet Nam and Zambia.
For any enquiries or to join the group, email [email protected] with the contact details of their designated qualified experts.
For more information, download the overview here http://www.oecd.org/tax/treaties/beps-action-15-developing-multilateral-instrument-group.pdf
For further information about the OECD/G20 BEPS project, click here www.oecd.org/tax/beps.htm .