On 30 April 2013, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the new Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment, produced by the Steering Committee of the OECD Global Forum on Transfer Pricing. The OECD now publishes the comments received.

The OECD will hold a public consultation on the Revised Discussion Draft on Transfer Pricing Aspects of Intangibles and the White Paper on Transfer Pricing Documentation on 12-13 November 2013 at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France. The public consultation will also consider other transfer pricing elements of the 19 July 2013 Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.

Over 300 senior tax officials from more than 100 jurisdictions and international organisations met in Paris on 26-27 September 2013 during the 18th Annual Tax Treaty Meeting to discuss solutions to unintended double non-taxation caused by base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

Strong competition is an optimizer for our economies. First of all, it is the best catalyst to increase our productivity. This is because a strong competition framework generates the right incentives to attract the most efficient firms into our markets.

This paper describes the features of the tax, recounts the story of its interplay between fiscal adjustment and helping meet the obligations to raise taxes, and implications for competitiveness and carbon leakage, environmental effectiveness and equity issues, and draws conclusions regarding why it happened, and provides tentative insights for other countries in a similar situation.

Switzerland has become the 58th country to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters during a ceremony at the OECD.

On 30 July 2013, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the White paper on Transfer Pricing Documentation, released as part of its project on transfer pricing simplification. The OECD now publishes the comments received.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria welcomed today Liechtenstein’s announcement of plans to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and take further steps to increase transparency and international co-operation.

The OECD invites public comments on a discussion draft that includes proposed changes to the OECD Model Tax Convention dealing with the operation of ships and aircraft in international traffic.

The international community has taken new steps to strengthen transparency and boost the comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide.

Hundreds of thousands of elected sub-national governments worldwide provide services and levy taxes on residents and companies.

The timeline of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project is extremely ambitious, with the first outputs expected for September 2014 and the completion of the project by the end of 2015. Input from relevant stakeholders is essential as the BEPS Project moves forward to develop the measures envisaged in the BEPS Action Plan.

Senior tax policymakers and administrators from across the world are meeting this week in Marrakech to discuss how powers to set and collect taxes should be allocated across different levels of government to ensure accountability, efficiency and economic stability.

This case study describes the approach taken to reduce NOx emissions from combustion plants, the challenges encountered and the social, environmental and economic impacts. It concludes by discussing the wider lessons that are raised for other governments seeking to develop similar policy responses.

Tax revenues in Latin American countries continue to rise but are lower as a proportion of their national incomes than in most OECD countries. Revenue Statistics in Latin America 2012 shows that Argentina and Brazil have the highest tax revenue to GDP ratio, while Guatemala and Dominican Republic stand at the lower end.

Offshore tax evasion remains a serious problem for countries and jurisdictions worldwide, with vast amounts of funds deposited abroad and sheltered from taxation when taxpayers fail to comply with obligations in their home countries.

On 15 November 2013, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) invited public comments on a discussion draft on changes to the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention dealing with the operation of ships and aircraft in international traffic. The OECD has now published the comments received on that discussion draft.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has welcomed moves by more than 40 countries – reinforced by EU leaders - to commit to a detailed timetable to step up the fight against tax evasion.

Over 330 senior tax officials from more than 110 jurisdictions and international organisations met in Paris on 26-28 March 2014 during the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Global Forum on Transfer Pricing.

The governments of 86 countries have taken a key step towards preventing value added tax from weighing on trade while also safeguarding state revenues by endorsing the first internationally agreed framework for applying national VAT rules to cross-border transactions.

The shares of the richest 1% in total pre-tax income have increased in most OECD countries over the past three decades. This rise is the result of the top 1% capturing a disproportionate share of overall income growth over that timeframe: up to 37% in Canada and 47% in the United States, according to new OECD analysis.

Tax for development: why better public services matter

At the G20’s request, the OECD is leading the development of a strategy to address base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS). The Development Working Group has asked the OECD to draw together the experiences of developing countries and international organisations in a report on the main sources of BEPS in developing countries and how these relate to the OECD/G20 BEPS Action Plan on this issue.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today 13 new peer review reports demonstrating progress toward implementation of the international standard for exchange of information on request. The Global Forum also issued compliance ratings for 10 jurisdictions.

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approach their expiry date, we must focus our efforts on ensuring a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. We face a plethora of common issues: growing inequalities; changing consumption patterns and population dynamics; increasing natural resource scarcity; and ongoing illicit financial flows.

The 34-member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development welcomed a Memorandum of Understanding between the OECD and Ukraine which will help Ukraine’s efforts to tackle corruption, strengthen its tax system and promote competitiveness.

The new OECD/G20 standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today by all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. A status report on committed and not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.

Action 10 of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting directs the OECD to develop transfer pricing rules to provide protection against common types of base eroding payments. A discussion draft of proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines relating to low value-adding intra-group services was released for comment by interested parties today

The G20 needs to go structural, social, and green! With fiscal and monetary policy room nearly exhausted, structural reforms are the best choices, sometimes the only choice. The OECD battle cry in this regard has been unchanged since 2008: “go structural!”.

Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD congratulated the newly elected President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for taking a bold first step in his economic reform agenda by substantially cutting fuel subsidies.

Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other countries beginning in 2018.

Public comments are invited on a discussion draft which deals with follow-up work mandated by the Report on Action 6 (“Prevent the granting of treaty benefits in inappropriate circumstances”) of the BEPS Action Plan.

Tax burdens and revenue collection in advanced economies are reaching record levels not seen since before the global financial crisis, but the tax mix continues varying widely across countries, according to new OECD research published today.

On 10-11 December, officials from fourteen developing countries discussed ways to maximise benefits from their recent commitment to enhanced engagement in the BEPS Project.

Public comments are invited on the discussion draft on the use of profit splits in the context of global value chains, released as part of the work in relation to Action 10 of the BEPS Action Plan.

The OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs invites public comments on two new draft elements of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines (the Guidelines). These discussion drafts relate to (i) the place of taxation of business-to-consumer supplies of services and intangibles (B2C Guidelines) and (ii) provisions to support the application of the Guidelines in practice (Supporting provisions).

On 21 November 2014, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the discussion draft on Action 6 (Prevent treaty abuse) of the BEPS Action Plan. The OECD now publishes the comments received.

On 3 November 2014, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the discussion draft of proposed modifications to Chapter VII of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines covering low value-adding intra-group services relating to Action 10 of the BEPS Action plan.

Third Annual Conference on the theme of "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact" held at the University of Venice from 29 through 30 January 2015. The press release is available.

The agreed mandate authorises the formation of an ad-hoc negotiating group, open to participation from all states. The group will be hosted by the OECD and will hold its first meeting by July 2015, with an aim to conclude drafting by 31 December 2016.

Following the release of the Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the BEPS Project in November 2014, the Asia-Pacific Regional Network on BEPS held its meeting on 12 - 13 February 2015 in Seoul.

On 18 December 2014, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on discussion drafts of two new elements of the OECD International VAT/GST Guidelines. These discussion drafts related to (i) the place of taxation of business-to-consumer supplies of services and intangibles (B2C Guidelines) and (ii) provisions to support the application of the Guidelines in practice (Supporting provisions)

After the March 2014 meeting in Paris and following the release of the Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the BEPS Project in November 2014, French-speaking countries met on 27 February 2015 in Libreville, Gabon.

Following the release of the Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the BEPS Project in November 2014, the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Network on BEPS held its meeting on 26 - 27 February 2015 in Lima.

Following the recent meetings of regional policy networks on BEPS in South East Asia (Korea 12-13 February), francopohone countries (Gabon, 27 February) and Latin America and the Caribbean (Peru, 26-27 February) a regional network meeting in Eastern Europe and Central Asia was held in Ankara, Turkey on 5-6 March.

The OECD Secretary-General Gurría welcomed the announcement and congratulated the Commission for the work done. "The European Commission’s initiative is another major step to tackle corporate tax avoidance.

Taxes on wages have risen by about 1 percentage point for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014 even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to a new OECD report.

Public comments are invited on a new discussion draft which includes proposals resulting from the work on Action 7 (Prevent the Artificial Avoidance of PE Status) of the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today new peer review reports for the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Morocco.

Work on the development of the Multilateral‎ Instrument to implement the tax treaty-related Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan began on 27 May 2015 in Paris. As per the OECD/G20 mandate, the ad hoc Group that will complete the work under Action 15 has been established, with over 80 countries participating.