Archive

June 6, 2013 – UN transfer pricing manual: what Brazil, India and China do differently – Martin Hearson. Chapter 10 of the UN Transfer Pricing manual “functions as a comprehensive critique of the OECD guidelines – almost a manifesto.”

May 22, 2013 – ICTD hosts research meeting on Unitary Taxation. Original here.

May 20, 2013 – Offshore Profit Shifting and the U.S. Tax Code – Part 2 (Apple Inc.) US Senate. See also CTJ.

April 2013 – The case of HSBC and Barclays and how unitary taxation would help the UK collect the tax that appears to be owing to it. Tax Justice Briefing.

March 27, 2013 – No more shifty business: NGOs’ response to the OECD’s BEPS paper. Originals here or here.

Feb 12, 2013 – Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS): OECD unveils major (and welcome)report on corporate taxation. Original here.

Feb 10, 2013 – ActionAid report on the Zambian tax scandal. Original here; news articles hereand here. “We estimate that the tax- haven transactions of just this one British headquartered food multinational has deprived the Zambian public purse of a sum over 14 times larger than the UK aid provided to Zambia to combat hunger and food insecurity in the same period.”

Jan 23, 2013 – Yahoo, Dell Swell Netherlands’ $13 Trillion Tax Haven

Dec 10, 2012 – A 21st Century blueprint for taxing multinational companies. Professor Sol Picciotto on Unitary tax: originals here and here.

Nov 20, 2012 – TJN comment article in the Financial Times, on Unitary Tax. Original here.

Nov 7, 2012 – Michael Durst: Rethinking the conventional wisdom on taxing multinational corporations. Original here, with kind permission from Tax Analysts.

Oct 15, 2012 – Reuters Special Report: How Starbucks avoids UK taxes

Oct 11, 2012 – Facebook’s UK corporation tax bill in 2011 was less than it pays one average worker. Original here.

Aug 23, 2012 – Highlight: Tax Analysts, Is Transfer Pricing Worth Salvaging? Lee Sheppard’s devastating critique of global transfer pricing rules. Original here.

Aug 9, 2011 – U.S. Trade Deficit Largely Due to “Intra-Firm” Trade

June 22, 2012 – A new expert, François Vincent, slams OECD transfer pricing rules, says they create ‘secret body of law’

June 2012 – The Tax Justice Network / Kepa / Finland Government Seminar on Transfer Pricing, Helsinki, June 13-14, 2012. Selected videos available here. Papers posted below.

• Opening remarks by Finland Minister Heidi Hautala
• Opening remarks: Alternative Methods of Taxation of Multinationals, Finland Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr.Erkki Tuomioja.
  
• Brazilian Transfer Pricing – A Practical Approach Could this be a Model for Developing Countries? Tatiana Falcao, IBFD
• Transfer Pricing – the Brazilian case – Marcos Aurelio Pereira Valadao (with additional text here)*
• China’s transfer pricing system, Zhang Ying, State Administration of Taxation of People’s Republic of China
• India’s Transfer Pricing System – Anita Kapur, Director-General of Income Tax
• Indian Transfer Pricing System, Vikram Vijayaraghavan, SAPR Associates, Chennai
• International Transfer Pricing Abuse: Sizing the Problem, James Henry
• Transfer Pricing in Nigeria, Julius Bamidele, Director (Oil and Gas), FIRS, Nigeria
• The South African Transfer Pricing System, Gerdi van der Westhuysen, South African Revenue Service (SARS)
• Transfer Pricing: Alternative Approaches / Sub Saharan Africa, Joseph H. Guttentag, International Senior Lawyers’ project
• SAB Miller: what happened next. Martin Hearson, ActionAid. Original report here.
• Bananas: the case of Ecuador, Juan Carlos Campuzano S. Servicio de Rentas Internas, Ecuador
• The Banana case: Felicity Lawrence, The Guardian. Presentation based on her 2007 Guardian exposé, which was published alongside an accompanying article and an interactive guide to transfer pricing.
• Future of Taxing Multinational Corporations: Transfer pricing issues in Central America, Ricardo Barrientos
• Transfer Pricing in Latin America, Isaac Gonzalo Arias Esteban, International Cooperation and Taxation Director Inter American Center of Tax Administrations.
• Practice and legislation on transfer pricing, Wanda Montero, Dominican Republic tourism industry. See associated paper, below, and shorter summary here.

• Meeting the Challenges of Transfer Pricing, Marlies de Ruiter, Head of Tax Treaty, Transfer Pricing, Financial Transactions, OECD: additional text here.
• Country-by-country reporting and transfer mispricing, Richard Murphy, Tax Research
• Combined Reporting with Formulary Apportionment: The Transfer Pricing System of the US States, Michael J. McIntyre Professor of Law, TJN Senior Adviser, Wayne State University
• Michael Durst: presentations not available but see the six articles by Durst here, (including Making Transfer Pricing Work for Developing Countries, December 2010.)
• Rethinking the Source of the Arm’s Length Transfer Pricing Problem, Ilan Benshalom, Hebrew University Faculty of Law.
• Taxation of Multinational Financial Institutions Using Formulary Apportionment to Reflect Economic Reality,Kerrie Sadiq
• The Common Consolidated Corporate Tax Base (CCCTB) in Europe, Prof. Sol Picciotto, TJN Senior Adviser
• Formulary Apportionment— Myths and Prospects, Reuven Avi-Yonah & Ilan Benshalom (see also their 2010 paper)

• The Role of Finland in promoting international tax co-operation. Tuire Santamaki-Vuori, State Secretary, Ministry of Finance
• Closing remarks: Finland Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Erkki Tuomioja, here.

Other papers and articles

• Outcome of two days’ dialogue on transfer pricing: conference summary John Christensen
• Transfer Pricing Week: OECD Admits its Transfer Pricing Guidelines are flawed (original here.)
• Transfer Pricing Week: The OECD transfer pricing methods are dead: Long Live the Alternatives

May 14, 2012 – Combined reporting in the U.S., new studies and testimony. Originals here andhere.

April 28, 2012 – How Apple Sidesteps Billions in Taxes – New York Times in-depth investigation. See also associated articles “Double Irish with a Dutch Sandwich’ and CTJ’s letter to the NYT in response, explaining how to help curb these abuses, with a fuller CTJ report here.

March 28, 2012 – David Spencer: Guest blog on rifts between the OECD and United Nations on international tax

March 20, 2012 – India slams OECD’s arrogance on international tax. Original here.

March 2012 – Brazil’s Approach to Transfer Pricing: A Viable Alternative to the Status Quo? byTatiana Falcão.

Jan 2012 – U.S. MNCs’ Offshore Operations: An Unbiased View. Jan 2012. Richard Harvey, a former senior IRS official, argues that U.S. policy makers face a choice between a system that favours US multinationals over domestic firms, or a system that puts US multinationals on a level playing field with foreign multinationals. He adds: “anyone who believes the IRS can effectively enforce the arm’s-length standard is an eternal optimist — or delusional.”

August 1, 2011 – TJN on a new EU report on transfer pricing and developing countries. Originals here and here.

June 17, 2011 – Tatiana Falcão of Machado Associados e Consultores writes Brazilian transfer pricing rules: a new approach?

June 9, 2011 – TJN’s David Spencer is outspoken at a United Nations transfer pricing meeting. Original speech here.

Mar 7, 2011 – US, UK, OECD oppose developing countries having stronger voice on tax

Dec 2010 – Dodging Repatriation Tax Lets U.S. Companies Bring Home Cash, Bloomberg. On how U.S. companies bring deferred offshore profits back home without triggering taxes.

Nov 2010 – ActionAid on the case of SABMiller and tax avoidance in Africa.

Nov 2010 – An investigation into the practical application of combined reporting for U.S. state. TJN hasn’t parsed this in detail.

Oct 2010 – Jesse Drucker of Bloomberg on Google’s 2.4% tax rate

Oct 2010 – Martin Sullivan of Taxanalysts “Microsoft Moving Profits, Not Jobs, Out of the U.S.”

July 2010 – See these statements from assorted experts at a hearing on Transfer Pricing and the U.S. tax system on July 22, 2010 in Washington, notably from Martin A. Sullivan andReuven Avi-Yonah.See also this Bloomberg story analysing a report on transfer pricing prepared by the Staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation and submutted to the House Committee on Ways and Means on July 20, 2010

June 2010 – Lee Sheppard of TaxAnalysts’s useful short overview of transfer pricing in Forbes, endorsing formulary apportionment approaches.

May 28, 2013: Country by country reporting: the first people-led accounting standard. On the EU adopting new CbC requirements, 10 years after TJN began its campaign.

March 27, 2013 – No More Shifty Business: a response to the OECD’s BEPS report on global tax. TJN and other groups expand the scope of calls for country-by-country reporting, to include the notion of Combined Reporting (see Transfer Pricing Page for details of that.) Original document here.

Nov 1, 2012 – At last, the accountancy profession starts to take country by country reporting seriously

June 1, 2012 – Country by Country reporting: Accounting for globalisation locally. New report by Tax Research.

May 17, 2012 – Oxfam America sues SEC to force completion of Dodd-Frank oil transparency rule. Original here

May 9, 2012 – Bishops call for country by country reporting. Originals in English, French,Spanish.

May 8, 2012 – Tax journalist endorses CbC reporting. Original here.

May 2, 2012  – Richard Murphy speech on why we need CbC reporting

Feb 2012 – The Financial Times endorses CbC reporting. Original here.

Feb 6, 2012 – Barclays’ refusal to disclose location of tax losses: a case for CbC reporting.Original here

Nov 2011 – Exposing the lost billions: How financial transparency by multinationals on a country by country basis can aid development – Eurodad. Full report here.

Sept 20, 2011 – Piping Profits: Mapping the Extractive Industries corporations. Original here.

Sept 2011 – EU asks IASB to change its approach

Aug 4, 2011 – Nine French Regional Councils Ask For Country-By-Country Reporting From Financial Partners

July 19, 2011 – Christian Aid welcomes UK government support for CbC reporting

July 13, 2011 – Senator Levin’s landmark Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act – the CbC clause. Original bill here.

July 1, 2011 – Netherlands supports CbC

June 16, 2011 – 15,000 Norway signatures on tax havens, CbC

May 17, 2011 – Natural resource transparency: call for urgent EU action – Publish What You Pay

May 2, 2011 – US companies already have all the data they need for CbC reporting

March 16, 2011 – TIEAs a step closer in Norway

March 16, 2011 – Partial victory: European ministers support country-by-country reporting –Eurodad

March 4, 2011 – EU going for Dodd-Frank plus?

Feb 3, 2011 – Private companies say “financial transparency: not a great idea” – Eurodad

Dec 22, 2010 – FT links country-by-country reporting to formulary apportionment – supports both.

Dec 16, 2010 – TJN submission to the European Union on CbC reporting

Nov 2010 – Shifting sands: tax, transparency and multinational companies – Christian Aid

Sept 1, 2010 – Country by County Reporting: Dodd-Frank in multiple languages (legislation here).

July 30, 2010 – World Bank submission to the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB.)

May 2010 – Accountancy briefing: the benefits of country-by-country reporting

May 2010 – Accountancy briefing – who are the users of accounts?

June 2009 – detailed report on CbC reporting for the Task Force on Financial Integrity and Economic Development

Sept  2013 – Formal legal opinion: UK company directors have no fiduciary responsibilityto shareholders to avoid tax. Opinion here.

Jun 2013 – Delaware: no duty on corporate bosses to dodge tax. Original article here.

Jun 26, 2013 – Tax justice and a short history of the decline of corporate responsibility. Main reference here. (Mostly with a U.S. focus.)

Jun 5, 2013 – The fig leaf of shareholder value covering corporate tax avoidance, removed. (Mostly with a UK focus.)

May 30, 2013 – On Apple, Google, responsibility and tax. Originals here and here.

Oct 17, 2012 – It’s official: companies do not have a duty to shareholders to avoid tax. Originalhere.

Oct 10, 2011 – Christian Aid: Tax and Sustainability – a framework for businesses and socially responsible investors

Oct 7, 2011 – Christian Aid: Investors should make tax an ethical issue

Sept 2011 – Does a company’s responsibility to society start with paying its taxes? The Guardian

Sept 2011– Two studies showing that corporate irresponsibility and tax aggressiveness go together

July 2011 – ActionAid : Tax avoidance ‘as big an issue as sweatshops,’ core Corporate Responsibility issue. Originals here and here

Dec 2010 – Tax and corporate integrity: an accreditation scheme

Nov 2010 – FT: Tax is now a source of reputational risk

Oct 2010 – Not being evil? Google pays 2.4% tax rate

Oct 2010 – UK financial leaders say they want to be ethical

July 2010: TJN submission to the IASB

June 2010 – Topsy-Turvy: KPMG tops corporate responsibility list

June 2010 – Corporate tax and the common good

June 2010: Christian Aid surveys top multinationals

May 2010. See Prem Sikka’s paper Smoke and Mirrors: Corporate Social Responsibility and Tax Avoidance, Essex University, April 2010. See a brief summary here.

Update: May 2010: See this example, entitled “Transparently Dishonest,” of an accountancy firm, PWC in this case, working directly against the interests of corporate reponsibility in the tax area, in this 2006 article by CTJ’s Bob McIntyre.

Update Feb 2009: The Guardian’s new series on tax, tax avoidance and evasion, and tax havens, contains a lot of new material, and asks a lot of questions, on corporate responsibility and tax. They may have coined a new term too: taxwash.

2008 – Prem Sikka 2008 article on Britain’s Private Finance Initiative

2004 – Paper: The Social Irresponsibility of Corporate Tax Avoidance: Taking CSR to the bottom line, Society for International Development

July 2013 – Mongolia and tax treaties: the mouse that roared

June 2013 – Dutch tax treaties lead to huge revenue losses in developing countries. Original here.

May 2013 – Lee Sheppard: Don’t sign OECD model tax treaties! Original here.

Feb 2013 – Mongolia kills tax treaties with Netherlands and others. Originals here and here.

Feb 2013 – Choosing between the UN and OECD Tax Policy Models: an African Case Study. Original here.

Aug 2012 – Highlight: Tax Analysts, Is Transfer Pricing Worth Salvaging? Lee Sheppard’s devastating critique of global transfer pricing rules. Original here.

March 2012 – David Spencer: Guest blog on rifts between the OECD and United Nations on international tax

March 2012 – India slams OECD’s arrogance on international tax. Original here.

Oct 2011 – Major new US IRS report uncovers tax treaty shortcomings. Original here

Aug 2011 – Swiss-German tax treaty on Aug 10 will undermine automatic information exchange

July 2011 – AllianceSud on how Swiss tax treaties harm developing countries.  See also Mark Herkenrath’s article in Tax Justice Focus.

Mar 2011 – US, UK, OECD oppose developing countries having stronger voice on international tax

Feb 2011 – The U.S. – Chile Income Tax Treaty: A Guide for other Developing Countries

Feb  2011 – Austria’s and Luxembourg’s Anglo-German fig leaf on how Switzerland is playing divide and rule within the European Union, to the benefit of Austrian and Luxembourgois secrecy.

Jan 2011 – US emerges as Swedish Tax Haven Sweden hasn’t received any information from the U.S. since 2005, despite a treaty oblighing information-sharing.

Dec 2010 – How corporate tax evasion can be tackled worldwide – an interesting letter in the FT looking at multilateral treaty approaches towards formula apportionment

Nov 2010 – India: don’t sign with Liechtenstein on why countries should sign TIEAs, but not DTAs, with tax havens.

Oct 2010 – Britain aligns with Switzerland in defence of secret wealth – on a proposed UK-Swiss treaty. See also this.

Oct 2010 – Tax Justice Focus – Swiss Double Tax Agreements: the Development Perspective. Mark Herkenrath explores how Switzerland is forcing developing countries into tax concessions in exchange for inadequate information exchange provisions.

2009 – Norwegian government commission on capital flight from developing countries,recommendations, explaining assymetries in power between developed and developing countries when treaties are negotiated.

April 2009 – The  The UN Model Tax Convention as Compared with the OECD Model Tax Convention, Michael Lennard, Asia-Pacific Tax Bulletin, reproduced with the kind permission of IBFD

2008 –  The Purpose and Current Status of the United Nations Tax Work Michael Lennard (and also with permission of IBFD) provides a shorter assessment of the differences between the OECD and UN models, along with some history.