OECD tax chief highlights benefits and risks of transparency

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

OECD tax chief highlights benefits and risks of transparency

Pascal Saint-Amans has emphasised the urgency of fixing the flaws in the international tax system.

Saint-Amans, the head of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA), which is leading the work on the base erosion and profit shifting project (BEPS) on behalf of the G20, said international tax is on the “radar screen” of all governments and leaders.

“If we want to stop politicians paying attention to international tax, we’d better solve the problems in the system,” he said in a speech at Jersey Finance’s annual private client conference in London on May 12.

pc20conf20201520pascal202.jpg

“We’re at a critical time. I don’t know where we’re heading on cooperation, maybe back to more at a national level,” he added. “There are risks and opportunities because tax is at the core of sovereignty.”

The Frenchman said it was important to keep up the level of engagement, especially of developing countries. At the same time, he described the BEPS Project as a “big-country agenda”.

“This is often against smaller jurisdictions, whether we like it or not,” Saint-Amans said.

The CTPA director said key dates for G20 discussion of the outcomes from the BEPS project will be meetings of finance ministers in Ankara, on September 4 and 5, and Lima, on October 8, when the results of the entire BEPS project are due to be presented; and the heads of government summit in Antalya on November 15 and 16.

Transparency

Referring to aspects of the work related to BEPS, Saint-Amans said transparency was good for governments, professionals and taxpayers.

“Jurisdictions who don’t move will pay a heavy price,” he said. Saint-Amans was particularly critical of Panama, who, he said, “has not shown any movement”.

Confidentiality is a key aspect of increased transparency which automatic exchange of information is designed to bring about.

Fifty one jurisdictions became the first signatories of the Common Reporting Standard in Berlin in October 29, which will introduce the automatic exchange of tax information globally from 2017.

“The more transparent the world gets, the more attention we need to pay to confidentiality,” Saint-Amans said. “The challenge for the Global Forum [on Transparency and the Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes] is to design a system of peer review that can check if jurisdictions can exchange information securely.”

Information exchanged should be correct and should only be used for tax purposes, and the tax administrators to whom it is sent should not be under political influence, Saint-Amans added.

The OECD is maintaining the feverish pace of the BEPS Project. Three sets of public comments on discussion drafts on distinct action points have been published since the beginning of May, covering strengthening controlled foreign company rules (parts 1 and 2), mandatory disclosure and data analysis. And a new discussion draft on preventing the artificial avoidance of permanent establishment came out on May 15,



 

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The US president also unveiled a new 50% levy on copper imports; in other news, a UK wealth tax proposal has been criticised by the Institute for Fiscal Studies
Wim Wuyts, who had been head of the specialist tax network since 2017, is moving on to a new role with WTS’s Belgian member firm
MNEs are increasingly using algorithmic tools in TP. Sahasranshu Dash argues that data ethics should therefore plug directly into the TP design process
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales also queried whether HMRC resources could be better spent scrutinising larger entities
Grant Thornton’s Austria tax head likens his practice to an escape room, shares his football coaching ambitions, and explains why tax is cool
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 EMEA Tax Awards
Awards
ITR is delighted to reveal all the shortlisted nominees for the 2025 Asia-Pacific Tax Awards
The fates of pillars one and two hang in the balance after the US successfully threw its weight around in G7 and Canadian negotiations
Rafael Tena tells ITR about the ‘crazy’ Mexican market, ditching the hourly rate, and refusing to grow his fledgling firm in an ‘unstructured way’
It should be easy for advisers to be transparent about costs, Brown Rudnick partner Matthew Sharp said in response to exclusive ITR in-house data
Gift this article