handbook-tb

Diane Ring3.4 Disclosure of aggressive tax planning: BEPS Action 12Action 13 is not the only part of the OECD project on BEPS seekingincreased information from taxpayers. Action 12 targets aggressive taxplanning arrangements and seeks taxpayer disclosure regarding thesestructures. As noted in section 3.1 above, this topic has a delivery dateof September 2015.3.4.1 Goals of Action 12Based on the view that countries can more effectively tackle base erosionand profit shifting if they receive timely and relevant information,Action 12 seeks to require disclosure regarding aggressive planning.Paralleling the work currently being undertaken on Action 13, thework on Action 12 will include the design of a reporting standardand a mechanism for sharing information among taxing jurisdictions.Many of the same concerns raised under Action 13 for both taxpayersand governments will also arise, including: taxpayer burden, consistency,country-specific needs, and value of qualitative and group-wideinformation. The OECD Action Plan on BEPS anticipates that the recommendationsunder Action 12:will use a modular design allowing for maximum consistencybut allowing for country specific needs and risks.One focus will be international tax schemes, where thework will explore using a wide definition of “tax benefit”in order to capture such transactions. The work will beco-ordinated with the work on co-operative compliance.It will also involve designing and putting in placeenhanced models of information sharing for internationaltax schemes between tax administrations. 37Given the thematic and structural overlap between Actions 12and 13, the conclusions reached regarding questions such as taxpayerburden and the format for delivering the master file and CbC templateunder Action 13 will likely impact the future recommendations underAction 12.37OECD, Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, supranote 3, at 22.540