Saint-Amans to lead debate on tax 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

Saint-Amans to lead debate on tax transparency

psa.jpg

Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, will tell companies, activists, authorities and advisers about the need for greater transparency.

In his keynote speech to open International Tax Review’s Tax & Transparency Forum in London on May 2, Saint-Amans will argue that more than ever in the economic climate, tax policies must ensure revenue collection while favouring growth, promoting employment and reducing inequalities.

“In that context, tax compliance is key to ensure that revenue is effectively collected from those who owe the tax to guarantee the fairness of tax systems,” Saint-Amans told International Tax Review.

Saint-Amans said that in the globalised economy, tax sovereignties offer opportunities and risks. Tax cooperation is a key factor to protect sovereignty and ensure better compliance.

Saint-Amans believes that in the international tax field, the challenges are related to the lack of transparency of a number of jurisdictions, the risk of illegitimate profit shifting to low tax jurisdictions via the misuse of corporate vehicles or the abuse of transfer pricing rules, as part of aggressive tax planning.

“The OECD has been engaged in promoting compliance in the context of better tax policies and more efficient tax administrations,” says Saint-Amans. “Many projects are underway which are now increasingly incorporating the needs and the views of emerging and developing countries.”

Among other initiatives, he will tell delegates about the OECD’s action on promoting transparency and exchange of information through the Global Forum peer reviews, Multilateral Convention, and the promotion of automatic exchange of information. He will discuss adapting transfer pricing rules to make them more implementable, in particular by developing countries, and more stringent as regards the location of intangibles.

He will also talk about providing tax administrations with instruments to better address aggressive tax planning and capacity building in developing countries through the task force on tax and development.

The Forum is free to attend for tax directors and NGOs. For a full programme and details of how to register, click here.

FURTHER READING:

EXCLUSIVE: Why tax justice campaigners and the OECD are not seeing eye to eye

Pascal Saint-Amans finds his stride in Owens’s shoes

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

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
The sprawling legislation phases out Joe Biden-era green tax incentives for businesses; in other news, the UK will reportedly maintain its DST despite US pressure
Gift this article