THE OECD
released yesterday its new Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement
in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, which will strengthen
their involvement in the decision-making processes and bring them to the heart
of the technical work. The BEPS Project aims to create a coherent set of international
tax rules to end the erosion of national tax bases and the artificial shifting
of profits to jurisdictions solely to avoid paying tax.
The strategy has three key elements:
i. Building on their engagement in the earlier phase of the BEPS Project, about
10 developing countries, including: Albania, Jamaica, Kenya, Nigeria, Peru,
Philippines, and Tunisia, will be invited to participate in meetings of the
key BEPS decision making body - the Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) - and
its technical working groups. Several other developing countries are expected
to confirm their participation in the CFA or the technical working groups in
the coming weeks.
ii. Five regionally organised networks of tax policy and administration officials
will be established, to coordinate an ongoing and more structured dialogue
with a broader group of developing countries on BEPS issues. Building on the
effective BEPS consultations that took place in 2013 and 2014; these networks
will strengthen the involvement of developing countries in Asia, Africa, Central
Europe and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Francophone
countries.
iii. Support for capacity building to address BEPS issues in developing countries
is imperative. The regional networks will play an important role in the development
of toolkits needed to support the practical implementation of the BEPS measures
and as well as some of the priority issues for developing countries (tax incentives
and transfer pricing comparable data) which are outside the BEPS Action Plan.
The regional networks will also be a forum for interested developing countries
to discuss the negotiation and implementation of the multilateral instrument
under Action 15 of the BEPS Project.
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