The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released the outcomes of the second phase of peer reviews of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action 13 country-by-country reporting initiative.
Country-by-country reporting, one of the four minimum standards of the BEPS Project, requires tax administrations to collect and share detailed information on all large multinational enterprises doing business in their country.
The second annual peer review considers the implementation of the country-by-country reporting minimum standard by jurisdiction as of April this year.
For each jurisdiction, the review covered the domestic legal and administrative framework, the exchange of information framework and measures in place to ensure the appropriate use of country-by-country reports.
The reviewed showed an increase in coverage to 116 jurisdictions, however, a small number of members were not included in the review either because they recently joined the inclusive framework or they faced capacity constraints, but the OECD explained: “They will be reviewed as soon as possible.”
Countries missing from this review include Antigua and Barbuda; Armenia; Burkina Faso; Cabo Verde; Cook Islands; Dominica; Dominican Republic; Faroe Islands; Greenland; Grenada; Morocco; Saint Kitts and Nevis; Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
It also revealed that over 80 jurisdictions have already introduced legislation to impose a filing obligation on multinational enterprise groups, covering almost all with consolidated group revenue at or above the threshold of €750 million.
The OECD said: “Remaining Inclusive Framework members are working towards finalising their domestic legal frameworks with the support of the OECD.”
It showed that the implementation of country-by-country reporting has bee “found largely consistent with the Action 13 minimum standard”.
In total, 62 recommendations that were made in the first peer review have been addressed and these recommendations have been removed.
Phase three of the peer review of the Action 13 minimum standard will commence in 2019 which aims to review all countries of the inclusive framework, focusing on progress made all jurisdictions including the countries that missed out in this review.
Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD centre for tax policy and the administration said: "The peer review outcomes and the launch of the global exchange of CbC report in June 2018 show that the BEPS measures are being implemented rapidly, consistently and globally.”
