Strategy: G20 set to back OECD tax avoidance plan

Plan seeks to close international loopholes used by multinational firms to avoid paying large amounts of tax

CAIRNS: Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) chief Angel Gurria handed the G20 recommendations on the biggest changes to international tax rules in more than a century in a bid to tackle corporate tax strategies that are costing countries billions. The secretary-general said the plan, which seeks to close international loopholes used by multinational firms to avoid paying large amounts of tax, was “the most prominent step towards the modernisation of the international tax system in a hundred years”. Gurria revealed that global efforts to crack down on tax avoidance had already identified €37 billion (US$53 billion) from voluntary disclosure programmes involving 24 countries over five years, adding that “more will come”.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2014.

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