Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): Changing the Rules

The last few months has seen an extraordinary attack on the tax planning activities of the world’s largest companies. The attack has come from multiple directions: the UK Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee has publicly criticized the transfer pricing practices of Google, Amazon, and Starbucks; governments in Australia, New Zealand, France, and
Germany have made similar public criticisms; in the United Nations Practical Manual for Transfer Pricing, China and India articulate why the existing application of transfer pricing rules does not leave an adequate level of taxable profits in developing countries; the tax authority leaders of the BRICS countries pledge to promulgate international tax and transfer pricing guidance which is appropriate for developing countries; and, on 12 February, the OECD released its report on “base erosion and profit shifting” (BEPS), which was subsequently endorsed by the G20 countries. What does it all mean? And more importantly, where will it all end? We’ll discuss:

• BEPS: the story so far.
• The road forward: what is the OECD’s plan and will the BRICS countries accept it?
• Where will we end up? In particular, what changes do we predict to the established international tax and transfer pricing rules?
• Implementation: how?

BEPS will probably be the biggest story in international tax and transfer pricing in this decade. Find out what it is all about and how fundamental rules might be about to change.