UK Tax administration: large businesses transparency strategy

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is committed to dealing with all customers fairly and efficiently while making sure that the correct tax is paid to the Exchequer. HMRCʹs Large Business Directorate manages the largest 2,000 or so businesses using a risk based approach. This is due to their size and complexity, the tax at stake, and the consequent risk they present to the Exchequer.

This measure seeks to encourage tax transparency and compliance across all large businesses. To achieve this, we are introducing the requirement for qualifying large businesses to publish their tax strategy in relation to UK taxation.

This legislation will includes details of the tax strategies required to be published by such large business together with details of where and when publication is required and details of penalties for non‐compliance.

General description of the measure

The measure will introduce a legislative requirement for all large businesses to publish an annual tax strategy, in so far as it relates to UK activities, approved by the Business’s Executive Board.

The strategy will cover 4 areas:

• the approach of the UK group to risk management and governance arrangements in relation to UK taxation
• the attitude of the group towards tax planning (so far as affecting UK taxation)
• the level of risk in relation to UK taxation that the group is prepared to accept
• the approach of the group towards its dealings with HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC)

Non-publication of an identifiable tax strategy or incomplete content based on the 4 areas outlined above could lead to a financial penalty. This penalty will be subject to the usual HMRC appeals process.

Who is likely to be affected

Around 2,000 largest businesses in the UK.

Policy objective

The publication of tax strategies will ensure greater transparency around a business’s approach to tax to HMRC, shareholders and consumers. And board level oversight of those strategies will embed tax strategy in existing corporate governance processes. Taken together this should drive behaviour change around tax planning and therefore enhance tax compliance.

Proposed revisions

Legislation will be introduced in the Finance Bill 2016 to require qualifying large businesses or qualifying groups to publish a tax strategy, in relation to UK taxation, on the internet.

The legislation sets out the content required for inclusion in the tax strategy.

The strategy will need to remain accessible until the next update to the strategy, typically on an annual basis. A penalty may be chargeable either for the non-publication of a tax strategy or if the information contained within the published strategy does not meet the requirements of the legislation.

Monitoring and evaluation

This measure will form part of HMRCs business risk review processes and implementation and impact will be measured within the internal governance and risk management processes within Large Business Directorate.

• Draft clause 65
• Draft explanatory notes clause 65

G20 finance ministers endorse reforms to the international tax system for curbing avoidance by multinational enterprises

09/10/2015 – G20 finance ministers endorsed the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules during a meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

During a meeting chaired by Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Cevdet Yilmaz, the G20 finance ministers expressed strong support for the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, which provides governments with solutions for closing the gaps in existing international rules that allow corporate profits to « disappear » or be artificially shifted to low/no tax environments, where little or no economic activity takes place.

"Base erosion and profit shifting is sapping our economies of the resources needed to jump-start growth, tackle the effects of the global economic crisis and create better opportunities for all,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría.

“The G20 has recognised that BEPS is also eroding the trust of citizens in the fairness of tax systems worldwide, which is why we were called on to prepare the most fundamental changes to international tax rules in almost a century. Our challenge going forward is to implement the measures in this plan, rendering BEPS-inspired tax planning structures ineffective and creating a better environment for businesses and citizens alike,” Mr Gurría said.

Undertaken at the request of the G20 Leaders, the work to address BEPS is based on the 2013 G20/OECD BEPS Action Plan, which identified 15 actions to put an end to international tax avoidance. The plan was structured around three fundamental pillars: introducing coherence in the domestic rules that affect cross-border activities; reinforcing substance requirements in the existing international standards, to ensure alignment of taxation with the location of economic activity and value creation; and improving transparency, as well as certainty for businesses and governments.

Revenue losses from BEPS are conservatively estimated at USD 100-240 billion annually, or anywhere from 4-10% of global corporate income tax (CIT) revenues. Given developing countries’ greater reliance on CIT revenues as a percentage of tax revenue, the impact of BEPS on these countries is particularly significant.

The final package of BEPS measures includes new minimum standards on: country-by-country reporting, which for the first time will give tax administrations a global picture of the operations of multinational enterprises; treaty shopping, to put an end to the use of conduit companies to channel investments; curbing harmful tax practices, in particular in the area of intellectual property and through automatic exchange of tax rulings; and effective mutual agreement procedures, to ensure that the fight against double non-taxation does not result in double taxation.

The BEPS package also revises the guidance on the application of transfer pricing rules to prevent taxpayers from using so-called “cash box” entities to shelter profits in low or no-tax jurisdictions, and redefines the key concept of Permanent Establishment, to curb arrangements which avoid the creation of a taxable presence in a country by reliance on an outdated definition.

The BEPS package offers governments a series of new measures to be implemented through domestic law changes, including strengthened rules on Controlled Foreign Corporations, a common approach to limiting base erosion through interest deductibility and new rules to prevent hybrid mismatch arrangements from making profits disappear for tax purposes through the use of complex financial instruments.

Nearly 90 countries are working together on the development of a multilateral instrument capable of incorporating the tax treaty-related BEPS measures into the existing network of bilateral treaties. The instrument will be open for signature by all interested countries in 2016.

The BEPS measures were agreed after a transparent and intensive two-year consultation process between OECD, G20 and developing countries and stakeholders from business, labour, academia and civil society organizations.

“Everyone has a stake in reversing base erosion and profit shifting,” Mr Gurria said. “The BEPS Project has shown that all stakeholders can come together to bring about change. Swift implementation by governments will ensure a more certain and more sustainable international tax environment for the benefit of all, not just a few.”

For further information on the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project, including the 2015 Explanatory Statement, the 2015 BEPS Reports, background information and FAQs.

• OECD presents outputs of OECD/G20 BEPS Project for discussion at G20 Finance Ministers meeting