Int'l group to finalize digital tax plan in 2020

By Bahattin Gonultas

BERLIN (AA) - A global effort to revamp international tax rules for the digital economy will be completed by the end of 2020, said the secretary-general of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

In an interview with Anadolu Agency on Thursday, Angel Gurria explained why this issue was so urgent.

“Digital taxation, this is bit of a political hot potato. Fortunately, we still have nine months this year, and 12 months in the coming year. So we are getting there, and, of course, we are going to finish in time.”

The objective is to limit the ability of multi-national corporations to book taxes in countries with the lowest tax rates or the greatest number of loopholes.

This project has been on the books since 2015, when the G20 targeted this weakness in international tax law, and asked the OECD to close the loopholes. The OECD launched the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan.

The focus of this effort is based on two pillars.

The first pillar will focus on how the existing rules that divide up the right to tax the income of multinational enterprises among countries need to be modified to take into account the changes that digitalization has brought to the world economy.

The second pillar will explore two sets of interlocking rules designed to give nations a remedy in cases where income is subject to no or only very low taxation.

Since then there has been much progress. “The societies, economies and countries of the world have to come together through an agreement on how deal with these issues.. We are working on that,” Gurria said. It is a trying and complex area of law, but we are finding solutions, he added. “There will be nowhere to hide.”

Gurria pointed to the progress that the OECD has made in improving individual tax collection around the world. “We made one of the greatest revolutions,” he said.

“Today the taxman in Turkey has on his desk the names of all Turkish people who have accounts all over the world, whether they declare them or not. This automatic exchange of individual tax information is a real revolution,” Gurria added.