EXCLUSIVE: OECD’s Saint-Amans discusses EC push to force MNEs to publish CbCR data on their websites

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

EXCLUSIVE: OECD’s Saint-Amans discusses EC push to force MNEs to publish CbCR data on their websites

Pascal St-Amans

The European Commission’s crackdown on EU and foreign multinationals includes a plan to force MNEs operating in Europe to publish detailed country-by-country tax reports on their company websites – including financial data from offshore subsidiaries.

pascal-photo-jpega.jpg

The latest proposal, outlined on Tuesday after a week of pressure following the release of the Panama Papers, puts European Commissioners at loggerheads with the OECD, which does not advocate public disclosure of CbCR.

Pascal Saint-Amans, OECD director of tax policy and administration, spoke exclusively TP Week in an interview on Tuesday:

  •  “The agreement reached by the OECD along with the 44 other countries is that the reporting should go from one tax administration to another tax administration. The EU wants to go further and what we noticed is that the publicity in the reports will be limited to the transactions that occur within the EU and not beyond because all the other transactions will be grouped into one line which will be interesting, I’m not sure how much usefulness they will have from that. I don’t know how useful this will be but it will depend on how the EU plans to propose it.”

  • “It’s not the largely public CbCR for everybody and it’s limited to the EU, it goes beyond the agreement from the OECD, but in a sense that is not too contradictory of what was agreed at the OECD.”

  • “To the extent that it is limited to transaction occurring within the EU I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal. Not too concerned is maybe the right assessment.”

  • On whether this is unilateral action away from BEPS: “I’m pretty sure some countries like the US will think so."

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The partnership model was looking antiquated even before the UK chancellor’s expected tax raid on LLPs was revealed. An additional tax burden may finally kill it off
The US’s GILTI regime will not be forced upon American multinationals in foreign jurisdictions, Bloomberg has reported; in other news, Ropes & Gray hired two tax partners from Linklaters
APAs should provide a pragmatic means to agree to an arm's-length outcome for an Australian entity and for the ATO, the tax authority said
Overall revenues and average profit per partner also increased in the UK, the ‘big four’ firm revealed
Increasingly complex reporting requirements contributed towards the firm’s growth in tax, it said
Sector-specific business taxes, private equity tax treatment reform and changes to the taxation of non-residents are all on the cards for the UK, authors from Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer predict
The UK’s Labour government has an unpopular prime minister, an unpopular chancellor and not a lot of good options as it prepares to deliver its autumn Budget
Awards
The firms picked up five major awards between them at a gala ceremony held at New York’s prestigious Metropolitan Club
The streaming company’s operating income was $400m below expectations following the dispute; in other news, the OECD has released updates for 25 TP country profiles
Software company Oracle has won the right to have its A$250m dispute with the ATO stayed, paving the way for a mutual agreement procedure
Gift this article