Global Tax 50 2014: Robert Stack

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Global Tax 50 2014: Robert Stack

US deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs

Robert Stack

Robert Stack is a new entry this year

Robert Stack has defied convention. National tax officials have been disappointingly reticent throughout the BEPS project. Taxpayers have been desperate to know their reaction to international tax reform proposals so they can plan for the changes, but tax agencies have been reluctant to talk. While ministers have been in the spotlight at various G20 meetings during 2014, their officials have hung back. Stack, the deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs at the US Treasury has taken a different approach. Throughout the year, but particularly since the first set of BEPS reports was released in September, he has appeared at conferences, including at International Tax Review's Global Transfer Pricing Forum in Washington, made statements, contributed to web seminars and spoken to the media to explain where the US stands on the issues that have been addressed already and those that will be discussed over the coming year.

The US will lose revenue if international tax rules are tilted away from being residence-based to methods that consider source first. That has not stopped Stack from appearing in public in an effort to ensure everyone knows where the US stands. The depiction by some that the US is against everything the G20/OECD is trying to achieve in the BEPS project is not correct.

One of Stack's targets during the year has been the so-called cash box where taxpayers keep a large amount of money in tax havens to escape their own country's tax rules.

"We [tax administrators] feel comfortable where we are – defending the ALS [arm's-length standard] – but I do think it's a service to the rest of the US community to show you where the pressures in BEPS that you're reading about comes in," he told the Washington conference.

"So now what do the tax administrations need to do and how can the policy makers respond? The tax administrators can at least say, number one, give us a little more transparency because... if I see a company with 80% of their profits in Bermuda but 80% of their sales in high tax countries, as a tax administrator I think, 'I'm going to take a closer look at that guy'."

Stack has made sure everyone knows the US is fully engaged in international tax policy development.

The Global Tax 50 2014

View the full list and introduction

Gold tier (ranked in order of influence)

1. Jean-Claude Juncker  2. Pascal Saint-Amans  3. Donato Raponi  4. ICIJ  5. Jacob Lew  6. George Osborne  7. Jun Wang  8. Inverting pharmaceuticals  9. Rished Bade  10. Will Morris


Silver tier (in alphabetic order)

Joaquín AlmuniaAppleJustice Patrick BoyleCTPAJoe HockeyIMFArun JaitleyMarius KohlTizhong LiaoKosie LouwPierre MoscoviciMichael NoonanWolfgang SchäubleAlgirdas ŠemetaRobert Stack


Bronze tier (in alphabetic order)

Shinzo AbeAlberto ArenasPiet BattiauMonica BhatiaBitcoinBonoWarren BuffettECJ TranslatorsEurodadHungarian protestorsIndian Special Investigation Team (SIT)Chris JordanArmando Lara YaffarMcKessonPatrick OdierOECD printing facilitiesPier Carlo PadoanMariano RajoyNajib RazakAlex SalmondSkandiaTax Justice NetworkEdward TroupMargrethe VestagerHeinz Zourek

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

Uncertainty isn’t always a bad thing, but it’s easy to see how the Trump administration’s IRS commissioner merry-go-round may serve to undermine business confidence
The EU defended its ‘sovereign right’ to impose the tax in the face of US tariff threats; in other news, the US deputy Treasury secretary resigned after just five months
Ascoria’s chief revenue officer shares her career wisdom garnered from the disparate worlds of tax technology, electric cables, radio DJing and more
Businesses no longer have a choice when it comes to tax technology transformation. Pavlo Boyko of TMF Group says the question is simply: sink or swim?
The firm is hunting for a senior TP manager in its quest to build a full-service practice in Indonesia, A&M Tax’s Jakarta head Jaap Zwaan tells ITR
With a new government in place, the evolving tax landscape presents both opportunities and challenges for taxpayers
Major economies have expressed concerns, with China arguing a US global minimum tax exemption would be a violation of the principle of fair competition – ITR understands
Senator Richard Colbeck told ITR he was concerned by the decision to let PwC Australia tender for government contracts again after a scandal-induced ban
Whether it be due to a fragmented advisory market or a rise in M&A, Italy’s frenetic hiring has not gone unnoticed by ITR’s Talent Tracker
The deal gives Azets 14 new partners and boosts its Swedish revenues to over $100 million; in other news, Svalner Atlas launched in Copenhagen
Gift this article