There has been much grumbling recently about the strategies employed by major multinational companies to reduce their tax burdens. Now, the Conservative government in the United Kingdom, committed for years to building the “most competitive tax regime in the G20,” is pitching itself as an unlikely standard-bearer in the fight against corporate tax avoidance. In early December chancellor of the exchequer George Osborne unveiled the outline of a Diverted Profit Tax (DPT), informally known as the “Google tax” because it is expected to affect Internet companies first and foremost. Starting in April 2015, this proposal would impose a 25% charge on the local income of “large multinational enterprises with business activities in the UK who enter into contrived arrangements to divert profits from the UK by avoiding a UK taxable presence” according to official government documents. This would apply, for example, to the infamous “double Irish.”
Osborne’s plan is unquestionably bold, great in principle and, some say, openly political as it would take effect ahead of the parliamentary election scheduled for May and at a time when elected officials the world over are under increased pressure from their constituents to do something about widespread abuse of the tax code by international companies. “The DPT is framed in a way that is really quite radical,” says Ian Roxan, an expert on international tax law at the London School of Economics. “It would have a fundamental effect on how international tax planning is done.” Unsurprisingly, it has already provoked outcries by a variety of industry groups and is getting a lot of attention from other governments. Australia is evaluating a similar move, which has also been met with a degree of skepticism. Such is the hype around the Google tax, and so complex is the problem it tries to address, that, in the end, the risk is that it might end up where it started, exactly nowhere.
For one, it is potentially in breach of EU law and of the UK’s bilateral tax treaties, though the Treasury has envisioned it as a completely new levy, unattached to existing corporate taxes and therefore perfectly valid. “This argument is by no means obviously successful,” says Roxan. “It partially depends on who gets to decide whether it’s a matter for UK courts or for international arbitration panels.”
The April target is also overly ambitious. The draft legislation is undergoing a period of public consultation that will last through the beginning of February. And plenty of comments are expected. This already leaves little time for parliament to adopt it. How likely is it that MPs will choose to push this measure through right around the final stretch of what is expected to be a harshly contested campaign season? They might rather defer the matter to the next legislature, meaning that the fate of the DPT will depend in large part on the composition and political leanings of the new government.
Finally, the Google tax jumps the gun on ongoing multilateral efforts, led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to improve coordination among corporate tax systems across G20 countries. The Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, also known as BEPS, aims to produce a series of recommendations that will close the gaps between different nations’ tax codes that are exploited by multinational corporations to shift their profits around to get the most favorable tax treatment possible. BEPS is where the real action is, so much so that Forbes contributor Joe Harpaz recently called it “one of the biggest business stories of 2015.” The next round of guidelines by the OECD is expected in the fall of 2015. But the UK’s go-it-alone approach could upend these efforts by triggering an unwieldy corporate tax war, whereby each country introduces its own version of the diverted profits tax, potentially resulting in cases of double taxation and, overall, in a less effective mechanism to curb tax avoidance, which is the goal to begin with.
In any case, there might not be reason to worry, as the UK’s Google tax may never see the light of day, at least not in its present form.
Monte Carlo 2 marzo 2015 : dopo il Lussemburgo, la Svizzera ed il Liechtenstein, l'Italia ha sottoscritto oggi l'accordo Ocse, anche con Monaco.
L'accordo in materia di scambio di informazioni ai fini fiscali con il Principato che pone fine al segreto bancario nello Stato estero.
Lo rende noto il ministero dell'Economia aggiungendo che e' stato firmato anche un Protocollo in materia di "richieste di gruppo".
L'accordo, informa una nota, consentira' di sviluppare la cooperazione amministrativa tra i due Paesi e quindi di rafforzare il contrasto all'evasione fiscale transnazionale.
Firmatari dell'accordo per l'Italia, l'ambasciatore d'Italia nel Principato di Monaco, Antonio Morabito e per Monaco, il ministro per gli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Gilles Tonelli.
Alla cerimonia hanno preso parte il ministro per le Finanze ed Economia monegasca Jean Castellini, il direttore delle Finanze Thierry Orsini e in rappresentanza dell'amministrazione fiscale italiana il tenente colonnello Pietro Bollettieri.
L'accordo e' basato sul modello Ocse di Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) e consente lo scambio di informazioni su richiesta. Lo Stato a cui sono richieste le informazioni non puo' rifiutarsi di fornire allo Stato richiedente la collaborazione amministrativa per mancanza di interesse ai propri fini fiscali, ne' opporre il segreto bancario.
Il Protocollo che disciplina le richieste di gruppo, spiega ancora il Tesoro, consentira' di presentare richieste in relazione a categorie di comportamenti che fanno presumere l'intenzione dei contribuenti di nascondere al fisco italiano patrimoni/attivita' detenute irregolarmente nel Principato di Monaco. L'Accordo sullo scambio di informazioni e il Protocollo si applicano dopo la ratifica da parte dei Parlamenti dei rispettivi Paesi, e potra' riguardare elementi in essere alla data della sottoscrizione dell'Accordo. Con la firma, il Principato viene considerato ai fini della Voluntary Disclosure un Paese 'non black list', circostanza che consentira' ai cittadini italiani che detengono in maniera illegale patrimoni/attivita' a Monaco di accedere alla procedura di regolarizzazione alle condizioni piu' favorevoli previste dalla legge (pagamento per intero delle imposte dovute e sanzioni ridotte).
Insieme all'accordo e al protocollo e' stata firmata anche una dichiarazione congiunta di carattere politico con la quale i due Paesi confermano il reciproco impegno ad applicare lo scambio automatico di informazioni sulla base dello standard globale Ocse, nel rispetto della tempistica concordata a livello internazionale. L'Italia, subito dopo l'entrata in vigore dell'accordo e del protocollo, eliminera' il Principato di Monaco dalla black list basata esclusivamente sul criterio dello scambio di informazioni e relativa alla deducibilita' di costi e spese, ed includera' Monaco nella white list dei Paesi che effettuano lo scambio di informazioni.