OECD tax rates on labour income continued decreasing slowly in 2016

Lebanon represented by Mr Ghady El Khoury, Chargé d’affaires of the Embassy of Lebanon in France, signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“The Convention”), therewith becoming the 111th jurisdiction to join the Convention. Lebanon deposited its instrument of ratification for the Convention at the same time.

On 5 May, the OECD launched a public disclosure facility for information on schemes designed to circumvent the application of the Common Reporting Standard.

The OECD welcomes the decision by The Bahamas to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which was formally communicated to the OECD in a letter from The Bahamas’ Minister of Finance, the Hon Kevin P. Turnquest MP, on Monday 29 May 2017.

Ministers and high-level officials from 76 countries and jurisdictions have signed today or formally expressed their intention to sign an innovative multilateral convention that will swiftly implement a series of tax treaty measures to update the existing network of bilateral tax treaties.

You are invited to join a webinar on 9 June at 15h00 with OECD experts to discuss the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS (MLI). This online event follows the signing ceremony which took place in Paris on 7 June where over 65 countries and jurisdictions signed the multilateral instrument. Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions during the webinar.

The President of the Republic of Guatemala, Jimmy Morales, today deposited Guatemala’s instrument of ratification for the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters ("the Convention").

Today at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, Mahess Rawoteea of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development of Mauritius, signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) in the presence of Douglas Frantz, OECD Deputy Secretary-General.

The OECD has just released the draft contents of the 2017 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. Comments are requested at this time only with respect to certain parts of the 2017 update that have not previously been released for comments.

Today at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, Alamine Ousmane Mey, Minister of Finances of Cameroon, signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) in the presence of Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax for Tax Policy and Administration.

Public comments received on the draft contents of the 2017 Update to the OECD Model Tax Convention

Today at the OECD Headquarters in Paris, Nigeria signed two major multilateral instruments: the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the MLI) and the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎ (the CRS MCAA). Nigeria becomes the 71st jurisdiction to sign the MLI and the 94th jurisdiction to join the CRS MCAA.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum) published today the first 10 outcomes of a new and enhanced peer review process aimed at assessing compliance with international standards for the exchange of information on request between tax authorities.

Tax administrations are playing a critical role as governments start implementing new international measures to counter offshore evasion and combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.

The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) is the leading international body concerned with tax administration. The FTA, which brings together Tax Commissioners from 50 advanced and emerging tax administrations (including OECD and G20 countries), held its Plenary meeting in Oslo on 27-29 September.

The mobilisation of domestic resources is improving steadily in African countries, according to new data from Revenue Statistics in Africa 2017 released today in Addis Ababa at a meeting of tax and finance officials from 21 African countries hosted by the Department of Economic Affairs of the African Union Commission (AUC).

The OECD will hold a public consultation event on the tax challenges of digitalisation on 1 November at the University of California, Berkeley, United States.

The OECD will hold a public consultation event on transfer pricing matters on 6-7 November at the OECD Conference Centre in Paris, France.

On 21 November 2017 the OECD Council approved the contents of the 2017 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. The update will be incorporated in a revised version of the Model Tax Convention that will be published in the next few months.

Social security contributions and consumption taxes give way to personal income taxes, as corporate income taxes fail to recover

As part of continuing efforts to improve the international tax framework and tax certainty, the OECD has released the second round of analyses of individual country efforts to improve dispute resolution mechanisms. These seven peer review reports represent the second round of stage 1 evaluations of how countries are implementing new minimum standards agreed in the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

The latest edition of the OECD Model Tax Convention, an international instrument which serves as a model for countries concluding bilateral tax conventions, has been released today, incorporating significant changes developed under the OECD/G20 project to address base erosion and profit (BEPS).

Public input is sought both to obtain further evidence on the misuse of CBI/RBI schemes and on effective ways for preventing abuse.

More than 110 countries and jurisdictions have agreed to review two key concepts of the international tax system, responding to a mandate from the G20 Finance Ministers to work on the implications of digitalisation for taxation.

The Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (the “Convention”) will enter into force on 1 July 2018, marking a significant step in international efforts to update the existing network of bilateral tax treaties and reduce opportunities for tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.

Today, the OECD published a new set of bilateral exchange relationships established under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA) which for the first time includes activations by Panama. The OECD also released the second edition of the Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook.

The OECD has published 14 new and 2 updated transfer pricing country profiles, reflecting the current transfer pricing legislation and practices of participating countries. The country profiles, which are now available for 44 countries, contain up-to-date and harmonised information on key aspects of transfer pricing legislation, provided by countries themselves.

Peru is taking important steps toward fighting corruption and fostering greater transparency and exchange of information by completing the necessary steps to become a Party to the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions (Anti-Bribery Convention) and the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Today, Serbia deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (multilateral convention or MLI) with the OECD’s Secretary-General, Angel Gurría, therewith underlining its strong commitment to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) by multinational enterprises.

Today, the OECD and the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) signed a renewal of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) until June 2023, agreeing to continue to work together to improve tax systems in Africa. The MoU sets their co-operation towards the achievement of the common objective of promoting fair and efficient tax systems and administrations in Africa.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia today signed the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, making it the 124th jurisdiction to join the world’s leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating cross-border tax evasion.

Australia, France, Japan and the Slovak Republic have deposited their instrument of ratification or acceptance for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting with the OECD’s Secretary-General, therewith underlining their strong commitment to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and BEPS by multinational enterprises.

Africa has sustained gains in domestic resource mobilisation made since 2000, as tax revenues remained stable in 2016, according to Revenue Statistics in Africa 2018. Providing internationally comparable data for 21 participating countries, the report finds that the average tax-to-GDP ratio was 18.2% in 2016, the same level as in 2015, which represents a strong improvement from 13.1% in 2000.

Twenty-eight officials participated in the inaugural “VAT/GST Fraud Investigations” course at the OECD Latin America Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation last week in Buenos Aires.

This new report shows that tax-to-GDP ratios fell in most of the 16 Asian and Pacific economies covered by the report between 2015-16 due to a combination of policy reforms and decreasing natural resource prices.

The Convention will enter into force for Jamaica on 1 March 2019 and will generally apply from 1 January 2020, although it may apply for earlier periods between signatories if agreed to and applies in relation to any period regarding criminal matters.

Tax revenues in advanced economies have continued to increase, with taxes on companies and personal consumption representing an increasing share of total tax revenues, according to new OECD research.

Belize has signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS, becoming the 86th jurisdiction to join the Convention, which now covers almost 1500 bilateral tax treaties. Yesterday, Monaco deposited its instrument of ratification for the Convention with the OECD’s Secretary-General.

Today, the OECD, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and National Treasury of South Africa (National Treasury) signed a Memorandum of Co-operation (MoC), agreeing to continue to work together in the area of taxation. The MOC is in place until December 2023.

As part of the ongoing work of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS and its Task Force on the Digital Economy, the OECD will hold a public consultation event on the tax challenges of digitalisation on 13-14 March 2019.

The Kingdom of the Netherlands has deposited its instrument of acceptance and Georgia has deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) with the OECD's Secretary-General, thus underlining its strong commitments to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and BEPS by multinational enterprises.

On 29 May 2019, the UAE deposited its instrument of ratification for the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (multilateral convention or MLI) with the OECD’s Secretary-General, therewith underlining its strong commitment to prevent the abuse of tax treaties and BEPS by multinational enterprises. For the UAE, the MLI will enter into force on 1 September 2019.

The international community has agreed on a road map for resolving the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy, and committed to continue working toward a consensus-based long-term solution by the end of 2020, the OECD announced today.

International efforts to improve transparency via automatic exchange of information on financial accounts are improving tax compliance and delivering concrete results for governments worldwide, according to new data released today by the OECD.

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.

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.

As part of a new project on tax morale, the OECD has recently reanalysed the results of a survey of business perceptions on tax certainty, to identify the constraints and concerns they face in paying in taxes around the world. This new report, to be launched at this session, has identified some of the factors that may impact tax morale and attitudes towards compliance among businesses, and how they differ in different regions.

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.

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.

As part of the ongoing work of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS, the OECD is seeking public comments on a Secretariat Proposal for a “Unified Approach” under Pillar One. This public consultation meeting will focus on the key questions identified in the consultation document and issues raised in the written submissions received as part of the consultation process.