One minute with Bob Stack, former deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs at the US Department of Treasury and now at Deloitte.
What are you working on at the moment?
I joined Deloitte’s tax team in June and am busy getting to know clients and their concerns, as well as becoming fully engaged with the team to solve client problems, ranging from treaty issues to transfer pricing challenges.
Tell us about your experience representing the US government under the Obama administration at the OECD, where you were involved in the BEPS initiative.
It was an honour and a privilege to represent the US government in the OECD/BEPS process and to get to know and work with the governments around the world. It certainly gave me a new perspective on tax policy and tax administration that I hope to carry back into my work at Deloitte.
What’s the US view on the EC tax issues, such as the recent state aid rulings and country by country reporting?
Many in the US are concerned that EU member states – whether individually or through the European Commission – may be undermining the work at the OECD on BEPS by pushing for consensus around one set of rules at the OECD, and then taking a different approach at the European level. The European push for public country by country reporting is one example of this, but there are others.
What do you expect to happen on US tax reform?
There is a broad bipartisan consensus to lower corporate rates. The tricky part is agreeing on all the related details. True tax reform will be difficult, and while I want to be optimistic that the administration and congressional members will succeed, it is difficult as of right now to discern a clear path forward.
Why did the USA refuse to sign the multilateral instrument (MLI)?
The US already incorporates most of the MLI provisions in its own treaty network, and has the strongest anti-treaty shopping provisions in its bilateral tax treaties. Treasury officials have repeatedly expressed the view that the US does not need to sign the MLI in order to benefit from most of its provisions.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
I am a former high school French teacher, with a life-long love and interest in all things French.
One minute with Bob Stack, former deputy assistant secretary for international tax affairs at the US Department of Treasury and now at Deloitte.
What are you working on at the moment?
I joined Deloitte’s tax team in June and am busy getting to know clients and their concerns, as well as becoming fully engaged with the team to solve client problems, ranging from treaty issues to transfer pricing challenges.
Tell us about your experience representing the US government under the Obama administration at the OECD, where you were involved in the BEPS initiative.
It was an honour and a privilege to represent the US government in the OECD/BEPS process and to get to know and work with the governments around the world. It certainly gave me a new perspective on tax policy and tax administration that I hope to carry back into my work at Deloitte.
What’s the US view on the EC tax issues, such as the recent state aid rulings and country by country reporting?
Many in the US are concerned that EU member states – whether individually or through the European Commission – may be undermining the work at the OECD on BEPS by pushing for consensus around one set of rules at the OECD, and then taking a different approach at the European level. The European push for public country by country reporting is one example of this, but there are others.
What do you expect to happen on US tax reform?
There is a broad bipartisan consensus to lower corporate rates. The tricky part is agreeing on all the related details. True tax reform will be difficult, and while I want to be optimistic that the administration and congressional members will succeed, it is difficult as of right now to discern a clear path forward.
Why did the USA refuse to sign the multilateral instrument (MLI)?
The US already incorporates most of the MLI provisions in its own treaty network, and has the strongest anti-treaty shopping provisions in its bilateral tax treaties. Treasury officials have repeatedly expressed the view that the US does not need to sign the MLI in order to benefit from most of its provisions.
Finally, you might not know this about me but…
I am a former high school French teacher, with a life-long love and interest in all things French.
