Bridging the divide: a special report on BEPS and IP

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

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

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

Bridging the divide: a special report on BEPS and IP

johannes-plenio-ideas.jpg

ITR looks at the disconnect between many tax and IP professionals and how this holds companies back from meeting the challenge of BEPS.

Businesses around the world are grappling with the long-term tax and transfer pricing implications of BEPS for intellectual property. This is a serious problem for companies where tax and IP teams have been working in silos.

The OECD’s BEPS project, which was launched in 2015, has created more tax compliance challenges for intellectual property. But some tax and IP professionals are discovering late in the game that they have to work together.

BEPS may be old news to many tax experts, but the project is still being rolled out in many countries and its full impact is now being felt outside tax departments. The time to bridge the divide between tax and IP teams is long overdue.

With exclusive insight from heads of tax and IP directors at multinational companies and law firms, this special report looks at how tax and IP professionals can:

· Close the gap between tax and IP teams;

· Meet the IP challenges of BEPS; and

· Prevent costly tax disputes.

Here, we have the two-part report plus a preview feature, by Special Projects Editor Josh White, and an opinion article by our Editor-in-Chief Ed Conlon:

· Preview: BEPS is catching out IP – not just tax – teams

· Bridging the divide, part one

· Bridging the divide, part two

· Bridging the divide, part three

ITR will continue to follow the impact of BEPS on IP, which is such a key area for taxpayers today.

This is the first of a series of special reports on the most important issues in international tax. If you want to stay ahead of the game, sign up for a free trial to ITR.

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

As AI becomes increasingly intuitive and idiot-proof, its tax applicability is becoming impossible to overstate
New data on public CbCR showed uneven adoption, as Singapore advanced pillar two compliance and firms expanded their tax capabilities
Nearly two years after its publication, the Corporate Tax Roadmap is reshaping the UK’s TP framework through incremental reforms focused on scope, transparency and earlier HMRC intervention
With a stark divergence between MNEs that prepared early and those rushing to catch up, advisers must remain agile with all manner of compliance risks
The EU agreed new cooperative and investigative measures to tackle VAT fraud, while Hungary faced legal action and Lavez Coutinho expanded its indirect tax team
The arrival of a team from Brazilian rival Costa Tavares Paes Advogados brings SiqueiraCastro’s tax headcount to seven partners and 30 associates
CSR initiatives can sometimes venture into virtue signalling, but Ryan’s tax literacy event for schoolchildren was a genuine and necessary endeavour
Grant Thornton advanced plans to integrate its Australian firm into its US arm, as tax developments spanned law firm hires, aviation levies and digital services taxes
A new focus on early intervention and increased AI use is transforming how tax authorities are approaching TP audits, though capacity-constrained jurisdictions risk falling behind
The French administration has used AI to detect undeclared swimming pools and verandas but always includes a human in the loop, the AI in Tax Forum heard
Gift this article