Progress continues on implementing the BEPS Action 5 minimum standard, with a further 22 jurisdictions changing their laws to address harmful tax practices. On 19 July 2019, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS approved the latest results of reviews of jurisdictions’ domestic laws conducted by the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices.

Tax-to-GDP ratios increased in the majority of Asian and Pacific economies covered by a new OECD report published today. Nine of the economies in the publication increased their tax-to-GDP ratios between 2016 and 2017, compared with only three in the preceding year, according to Revenue Statistics in Asian and Pacific Economies 2019.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today nine peer review reports assessing compliance with the international standard on transparency and exchange of information on request.

The work on BEPS Action 14 continues with today’s publication of the first round of stage 2 peer review monitoring reports, which consists of monitoring the follow-up of any recommendations resulting from jurisdictions' stage 1 peer review reports.

Guinea, Namibia and Honduras have joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, announcing their commitment to implement both the international standard of exchange of information on request and the standard on automatic exchange of financial account information.

Ecuador and Serbia have deposited their instruments of ratification for the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters therewith underlining their strong commitment to join international efforts against tax evasion and avoidance. The Convention will enter into force on 1 December 2019 for Ecuador and Serbia.

The OECD has released the outcomes of the second phase of peer reviews of the BEPS Action 13 Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting initiative, demonstrating strong progress in the implementation of a key element in continuing efforts to improve the taxation of multinational enterprises (MNEs) worldwide.

Tax Policy Reforms 2019 describes the latest tax reforms across all OECD countries, as well as in Argentina, Indonesia and South Africa. The report identifies major tax policy trends and highlights that fewer countries have introduced comprehensive tax reform packages in 2019 compared to previous years.

This paper explores one distinctive form of the ‘big data’ of economics – individual tax record microdata – and its potential for tax policy analysis. The paper draws on OECD collaborations with Slovenia and Ireland in 2018 where tax microdata was used.

Tax Morale: What Drives People and Businesses to Pay Tax? assesses the various drivers behind voluntary compliance with tax obligations, particularly in developing countries where issues of governance are more acute.

The 2018 MAP statistics cover 89 jurisdictions and almost all MAP cases worldwide. They contain detailed information on each jurisdiction as well as aggregated global information.

TIWB will release its Annual Report 2018/19 on Tuesday, 24 September 2019 at 12:00 EST/18:00 CEST.

Taxing polluting sources of energy is an effective way to curb emissions that harm the planet and human health, and the income generated can be used to ease the low-carbon transition for vulnerable households. Yet 70% of energy-related CO2 emissions from advanced and emerging economies are entirely untaxed, offering little incentive to move to cleaner energy, according to a new OECD report.

The eighth edition of the OECD’s Tax Administration Series published today shows how tax administrations are increasingly moving to e-administration and using a range of technology tools, data sources and analytics to increase tax compliance.

The international community has made important progress in improving developing countries’ ability to tax multinational enterprises and boost domestic revenue mobilisation. A leading element of international co-operation efforts is the Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) initiative - a joint OECD/UNDP programme launched in July 2015 to strengthen developing countries’ auditing capacity and multinationals’ compliance worldwide.

The Platform for Collaboration on Tax – a joint initiative of the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank Group – is seeking feedback from the public on a draft toolkit designed to help developing countries in the implementation of effective transfer pricing documentation requirements.

Today, at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, Biljana Peranović, Director General of the Directorate for Tax and Customs of Montenegro, signed the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Convention) in the presence of the OECD Director of Legal Affairs, Nicola Bonucci. Montenegro is the 130th jurisdiction to join the Convention.

This report by the OECD Secretary-General provides an overview of the progress made by the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS in addressing the tax challenges of digitalisation and a brief update on the work on tax transparency.

Today the OECD Secretariat published a proposal to advance international negotiations to ensure large and highly profitable Multinational Enterprises, including digital companies, pay tax wherever they have significant consumer-facing activities and generate their profits.

Over 70 delegates from 14 countries, as well as international and regional organisations, business, and civil society gathered in Baku, Azerbaijan on 8-10 October 2019 for the Fifth Regional Meeting on BEPS for Eurasian Countries.

In response to a request from the APEC Finance Ministers, the OECD today presented the report Combatting Tax Crimes More Effectively in APEC Economies at the APEC meetings underway in Santiago, Chile.

Over 50 delegates from 13 African countries, as well as international and regional organisations, technical co-operation agencies, Senegalese business, civil society and academia gathered in Saly, Senegal, on 15-17 October 2019 for the Third Regional Meeting on BEPS for Francophone Countries.

The work on BEPS Action 14 continues with today's publication of the sixth round of stage 1 peer review reports. Each report assesses a country's efforts to implement the Action 14 minimum standard as agreed to under the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

Jordan joins the international fight against tax evasion by becoming the 158th member of the Global Forum.

Today, Bosnia and Herzegovina signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Convention), becoming the 90th jurisdiction to join the Convention, which now covers over 1 600 bilateral tax treaties.

As part of BEPS Action 5 to curb harmful tax practices, jurisdictions may only maintain preferential regimes if certain "substantial activities" requirements are met. In order to ensure a level playing field, these requirements must also apply to jurisdictions with zero or only nominal tax rates.

The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS has released additional interpretative guidance to give greater certainty to tax administrations and MNE Groups on the implementation and operation of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting (BEPS Action 13).

The Global Forum published today eight peer review reports assessing compliance with the international standard on transparency and exchange of information on request (EOIR).

The OECD is now gathering input for the Stage 1 peer reviews of Andorra, Aruba, Bahrain, Barbados, Gibraltar, Greenland, Kazakhstan, Oman, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates and Viet Nam, and invites taxpayers to submit input on specific MAP-related issues by 16 December 2019.

The average tax-to-GDP ratio for the 26 countries participating in the new edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa was unchanged at 17.2% for the third consecutive year in 2017. This was lower than the averages for Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) at 22.8% and for the OECD at 34.2%, underlining the need for urgent action to enhance domestic revenue mobilisation in Africa.

A regional meeting on tax and digitalisation for Asia and the Pacific , co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), took place in Manila, the Philippines on 19-20 November 2019.

A signing ceremony between the Italian Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate) and the State Revenue Committee of Armenia took place at the OECD today, establishing work plans for two assistance programmes initiated through Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) – a joint OECD/UNDP capacity building initiative.

Today marks an important milestone for the OECD/UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative (TIWB) with the launch of a project on automatic exchange of information. The project, which will be co-ordinated with the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, was unveiled during its 10th Anniversary Meeting in Paris, France.

On 26-27 November, the 10th Anniversary Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) in Paris will bring together more than 500 delegates from 131 member jurisdictions for renewed discussions on efforts to advance the tax transparency agenda.

Kenya and Oman have today signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Convention), becoming the 91st and 92nd jurisdictions to join the Convention, which now covers over 1630 bilateral tax treaties.

On the occasion of the 10th Plenary Meeting of the Global Forum a further five countries signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, therewith bringing the total number of participating in the Convention to 135.

Tax revenues in advanced economies reached a plateau during 2018, with almost no change seen since 2017, according to new OECD research. This ends the trend of annual increases in the tax-to-GDP ratio seen since the financial crisis.

Jordan has today signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Convention), becoming the 93rd jurisdiction to join the Convention, which now covers over 1,653 bilateral tax treaties.

As part of continuing efforts to address BEPS concerns, the Inclusive Framework on BEPS has now assessed 112 jurisdictions' progress in spontaneously exchanging information on tax rulings, in accordance with Action 5 of the OECD/G20 BEPS package.

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS has released additional interpretative guidance to give greater certainty to tax administrations and MNE Groups on the implementation and operation of Country-by-Country Reporting (BEPS Action 13).

The OECD today published two self-assessment maturity models on tax debt management and the reduction of compliance burdens, both critical areas for successful tax administration. Maturity models set out descriptions of capabilities and performance in a particular function or set of activities across a number of levels of increasing maturity, in the case of these models from an emerging to an aspirational level.

Viet Nam and Palau join the international fight against tax evasion by becoming the 159th and 160th member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA) signed the renewal of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Co-operation between both Parties.

North Macedonia has today signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the Convention), becoming the 94th jurisdiction to join the Convention, which now covers over 1,650 bilateral tax treaties.

Today, at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, Calixte Batossie Madjoulba, Ambassador of Togo in France, signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Convention) in the presence of the OECD Deputy Secretary-General Ludger Schuknecht. Togo is the 136th jurisdiction to join the Convention.

The international community reaffirmed its commitment to reach a consensus-based long-term solution to the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, and will continue working toward an agreement by the end of 2020, according to the Statement by the Inclusive Framework on BEPS released by the OECD today.

With a number of important recent and upcoming developments in the OECD's international tax work, experts from the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration give the latest tax update.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) and the World Bank carried out a technical assistance mission in Antananarivo on 20-24 January 2020 to assist Madagascar in the implementation of the international tax transparency standards.

The Global Forum and the Asian Development Bank held a joint training event on the Exchange of Information on Request Peer Reviews and Implementation of the Automatic Exchange of Information Standard from 17 January to 31 January 2020 in Tbilisi, Georgia.

Mali joins the international fight against tax evasion by becoming the 161st member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.