Tax Certainty for 'Related Issues' in Pillar One

We have submitted comments to the OECD on the draft proposals for tax certainty on issues “related to Amount A in Pillar One.

Summary

The best way to achieve certainty for allocating the rights to tax the profits of multinational enterprises (MNEs) is to formulate rules that are clear and simple, and in line with the business reality that they operate as unitary global enterprises. This is achieved in the design of Amount A in Pillar One, for which certainty can be ensured through an essentially administrative coordination process. This will deal with all the issues of definition and allocation of Amount A, including avoiding any double taxation.

Regrettably, however, Amount A has been designed as an exception, applicable only to a small part of the profits of around one hundred of the largest and most profitable MNEs, so that the existing rules on transfer pricing would continue to apply in all other cases. These rules are highly complex and rely on subjective judgments, and inevitably generate conflicts. These concern often highly contentious issues, particularly when they involve claims by host countries to tax more than the ‘routine’ profits from the local activities of foreign-based MNEs. Yet it is these very disputes to which this proposed procedure would apply for MNEs in scope of Pillar One.

The proposal would require any unresolved conflict to be referred to mandatory supra-national arbitration through a Panel, the majority of members of which would be business tax advisers. This is a fundamental abdication of state sovereignty, entrusting decisions involving often large amounts of government revenue to unaccountable private practitioners, who would operate in total secrecy, and provide no explanation or rationale for any decisions made. These proposals are totally inappropriate and unnecessary, and their inclusion would make it even more unlikely that many states will adopt Pillar One. In our view, since international tax disputes are between states, and concern important issues affecting government revenue, they should be settled only between governmental representatives.