International Tax

Although many lower-income countries are working hard to tax multinational companies and wealthy individuals more effectively, they face an uphill struggle. One reason is they need to cooperate with other countries, and the most widespread tools for doing so have been developed by higher-income countries. They don’t permit lower-income countries a fair share of the tax revenues from multinational companies’ profits, and they are complex to administer. These problems have technical and political solutions. Where do countries gain and lose the most? How can countries make better decisions about tax policy and administration? Can we redesign international tax standards to make them simpler and fairer?

Test your Knowledge

Which organisation is regarded as having laid the foundations for today’s international tax regime?

United Nations

British Commonwealth

League of Nations

Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development

Approximately how many bilateral tax treaties (also known as Double Taxation Agreements) are in force in Africa?

150

550

1500

Which of these countries was included on the European Union’s first list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (sometimes referred to as a tax haven blacklist) in 2017?

Panama

Namibia

Mongolia

Tunisia

On what grounds did the Kenyan high court nullify the country’s treaty with Mauritius in 2019

It had been badly negotiated

It breached human rights protections in the country’s constitution

It had not been correctly laid before parliament prior to ratification

It had not been subject to public consultation

What is the name of the UN body that develops standards on international taxation?

United Nations Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters

United Nations Fiscal Committee

United Nations Framework Convention on Taxation

United Nations Council on Tax Policy and Administration

What does the term ‘Base Erosion and Profit Shifting’ (BEPS), coined by the OECD, refer to?

Tax avoidance by multinational companies

Tax evasion by wealthy individuals

Using tax incentives to attract investment

Redistributing tax revenue between countries to compensate for environmental damage

How many members does the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS have, as of October 2022?

141

Why, in 2021, did Kenya and Nigeria opt out of a global agreement reached at the Inclusive Framework to update corporate tax rules in response to economic digitalisation?

They would not raise enough revenue from the global deal compared to unilateral measures

Taxing the digital economy is not an issue for African countries

They had not been involved in the negotiations

They did not want to submit to a binding transnational dispute resolution mechanism

Knowledge Hub

External Resources

Tax Treaties Explorer

This interactive site allows you to explore a dataset of almost every tax treaty signed by developing economies.

GLOBTAXGOV

The overall aim of GLOBTAXGOV is to assess the feasibility and legitimacy of the current model of global tax governance and the role of the OECD and the EU in international tax law making.

OECD BEPS project

As of 4 November 2021, over 135 countries and jurisdictions joined a new two-pillar plan to reform international taxation rules and ensure that multinational enterprises pay a fair share of tax wherever they operate.

UN Tax Committee

The UN Tax Committee strengthens international cooperation on tax matters, domestic and international, with a special focus on the needs and capacities of developing countries in this area.

BEPS in the mining industry

A project of the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development

Platform for Collaboration on Tax

A joint initiative of the IMF, the OECD, the UN, and the World Bank to strengthen collaboration on domestic resource mobilisation.

Financial Secrecy Index

A ranking of jurisdictions most complicit in helping individuals to hide their finances from the rule of law, produced by the Tax Justice Network.

ICRICT

The Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) is a group of leaders from around the world that aims to promote inclusive debate and to consider reforms from a perspective of global public interest.