ey-global-tax-policy-outlook-for-2015

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Tax reform
While not generating nearly
as much fanfare, 2014 was
the course of 2014, more than 40% of
countries experienced what we consider
These are reform projects over and
above the incremental, year-on-year
tweaks and annual budgets that any
given country typically carries out. It
involves more wholesale changes to
whole classes of tax (such as personal
income taxes) as well as changes to
business taxation that are designed
to profoundly change the way either
taxed. In 2014, the list of countries
experiencing such change is long,
including (among many others) Australia,
Brazil, Chile, China, India, Italy, Japan,
Russia, South Africa, Switzerland.
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Collaboration
Tax administrators, who
launched a whole new phase of
closer collaboration in 2014, are
increasingly recognizing that the ability
to look at international transactions and
global businesses through a multilateral
lens is far more effective than only
understanding and seeing a domestic
view. Increased cooperation has been
made possible by the many international
groups and forums dedicated to helping
tax authorities share more information
and knowledge — about processes,
as well as taxpayers — to improve
compliance and curb abuses.
The past year saw a number of new
ways in which tax administrations
plan to collaborate more closely in the
future. Top of the list was perhaps the
November 2014 announcement of the
creation of a new international platform
called the Joint International Tax Shelter
Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) 4
Network, whose objective will be to
avoidance. This new body is open to all
members on a voluntary basis and will
integrate the existing JITSIC cooperation
among some national tax administrators
into the larger FTA framework.
The communiqué also announced
agreement on a strategy for “systematic
and enhanced co-operation” between
tax administrations, based on existing
legal instruments that will “allow them
to quickly understand and deal with
global tax risks whenever and wherever
they arise.” This essentially refers to a
permanent secretariat that will allow
ongoing coordination of collaborative
efforts between annual meetings.
Similarly, the communiqué issued at the
Asian Tax Administration and Research
2014 outlined the creation of a new task
The task force is designed to enable the
discussions and to keep abreast of
international developments and issues
and tax transparency. According to the
is already unprecedented and powerful
global collaboration on these issues, and
the creation of the task force will give
a role, including relaying their views to
international forums.
are each substantial
in their own right. But
taken together, they
show just what an
important year 2014
was in the history of
corporate taxation.
And with much of
the 2014 BEPS work
either carried over
or planned for later
implementation, we
are now in the midst
of a multiyear period
of change. 2015 will
bring more change,
as will 2016 when
countries decide
whether, when and how
to implement the BEPS
recommendations.
2014 proved to be an
exciting time to be in
the business of tax, and
as the year unfolds,
2015 will be, too.
6 | The outlook for global tax policy in 2015
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Formerly the Joint International Tax Shelter
Information Centre.