The Australian government confirmed in a statement on Sunday that, during last week’s meeting of the G20 in Washington DC, the Treasurer of Australia, Joe Hockey, and the UK’s chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced ‘the urgent establishment of a joint working group to further consider and develop initiatives in relation to diverted profits by multinational enterprises’. The working group is open to all G20 members and any initiatives will be consistent with OECD BEPS work.
‘The ministers have resolved, subject to the completion of the UK general election, to establish a senior officials working group that will develop measures to address the diversion of profits by multinational enterprises away from their host countries,’ Hockey’s statement said. ‘Both the UK and Australia have sought to put in place competitive business tax regimes in order to encourage enterprise and investment, but those tax rates should be paid, not avoided through artificial structures.
‘The working group will build on the UK’s experience of introducing a diverted profits tax (DPT), which came into effect at the beginning of April. This is a global issue that needs to be quickly addressed’.
The move follows the Australian Parliament’s Economics References Committee hearing on corporate tax avoidance the previous week, in which the director OECD’s centre for tax policy and administration, Pascal Saint-Amans, gave evidence – and admitted the OECD were ‘embarrassed’ by the UK’s decision to introduce the DPT ahead of the completion of the BEPS project, recommending that Australia not do the same.
In a television interview with ABC, Hockey said that Australia would not be implementing a UK-style DPT, but that ‘certainly there are ways that we can beef up the integrity measures around our own taxation system [and] we can learn a lot from what the British are doing with their so-called “Google tax”’. He added:
‘Whilst we recognise that the OECD is undertaking work which Australia initiated and promoted last year, we obviously want to go further and faster … But importantly, the whole world needs to work together and by the United Kingdom and Australia coming together on this initiative, we are going to lead the world and work with the OECD and the G20 to ensure that companies pay the proper amount of tax where they earn the income.’
In related news, HMRC has made minor changes to its guidance on the diverted profits tax guidance, replacing the version published on 10 December 2014. Wording amended to correct an error in DPT 2010 on page 66 in the section on the duty to notify and factual description relating to partnerships has been added to the bottom of page 10. See www.bit.ly/12Qn0GK.
The Australian government confirmed in a statement on Sunday that, during last week’s meeting of the G20 in Washington DC, the Treasurer of Australia, Joe Hockey, and the UK’s chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, announced ‘the urgent establishment of a joint working group to further consider and develop initiatives in relation to diverted profits by multinational enterprises’. The working group is open to all G20 members and any initiatives will be consistent with OECD BEPS work.
‘The ministers have resolved, subject to the completion of the UK general election, to establish a senior officials working group that will develop measures to address the diversion of profits by multinational enterprises away from their host countries,’ Hockey’s statement said. ‘Both the UK and Australia have sought to put in place competitive business tax regimes in order to encourage enterprise and investment, but those tax rates should be paid, not avoided through artificial structures.
‘The working group will build on the UK’s experience of introducing a diverted profits tax (DPT), which came into effect at the beginning of April. This is a global issue that needs to be quickly addressed’.
The move follows the Australian Parliament’s Economics References Committee hearing on corporate tax avoidance the previous week, in which the director OECD’s centre for tax policy and administration, Pascal Saint-Amans, gave evidence – and admitted the OECD were ‘embarrassed’ by the UK’s decision to introduce the DPT ahead of the completion of the BEPS project, recommending that Australia not do the same.
In a television interview with ABC, Hockey said that Australia would not be implementing a UK-style DPT, but that ‘certainly there are ways that we can beef up the integrity measures around our own taxation system [and] we can learn a lot from what the British are doing with their so-called “Google tax”’. He added:
‘Whilst we recognise that the OECD is undertaking work which Australia initiated and promoted last year, we obviously want to go further and faster … But importantly, the whole world needs to work together and by the United Kingdom and Australia coming together on this initiative, we are going to lead the world and work with the OECD and the G20 to ensure that companies pay the proper amount of tax where they earn the income.’
In related news, HMRC has made minor changes to its guidance on the diverted profits tax guidance, replacing the version published on 10 December 2014. Wording amended to correct an error in DPT 2010 on page 66 in the section on the duty to notify and factual description relating to partnerships has been added to the bottom of page 10. See www.bit.ly/12Qn0GK.
