Ministers and high-level officials from more than 60 countries and jurisdictions signed the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to prevent BEPS’ on 7 June at the OECD in Paris (see http://bit.ly/2r4wJFU).
The EU Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs will vote on 12 June on whether to adopt its draft report on the Commission’s proposal to introduce mandatory public country-by-country reporting (CbCR) for multinational groups.
Djibouti and Thailand have become the 97th and 98th members respectively of the OECD’s inclusive framework on BEPS. Djibouti has also become the 141st member of the global forum. Thailand became a member of the Global Forum in January 2017.
The Bahamas has formally communicated to the OECD its intention to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.
The OECD’s disclosure facility for Common Reporting Standard (CRS) avoidance schemes, launched in May, has so far caused the Hong Kong authorities to issue new guidance about registration of ‘occupational retirement schemes’, to clarify that not all such schemes are out of scope of CRS reporting.
The EU Parliament’s committee on economic and monetary affairs has submitted a question for written answer to the chair of the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism Board, concerning ‘supervising the use of tax havens by European banks’.
The European Commission has published its latest annual report on competition policy, covering the year 2016, in which it defends the use of state aid rules to counter tax rulings allowing multinational groups to reduce corporate taxes payable in certain member states.
The OECD has released its peer review document forming the basis for assessment of the BEPS action 6 minimum standard for preventing ‘treaty shopping’.
The EU has ‘ample room’ to take a ‘pragmatic approach’ to trade with the City of London after Brexit, states the OECD in its 2017 Business and Finance Outlook.
European finance ministers have agreed a draft directive to improve the EU’s double taxation dispute resolution mechanisms. The directive will make these mechanisms mandatory and binding, with clear time limits for reaching agreement.