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International Tax Avoidance – What Has BEPS Accomplished for Developing Countries?

October 18, 2020

Virtual Conference

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Tax Sunday is a semi-annual series of events on international tax issues, co-organized by the IMF and World Bank on the Sunday of the Annual and Spring Meetings. Member country officials, staff of international organizations, business and CSO representatives and academics attend Tax Sunday every year.

The upcoming Tax Sunday Conference will be held virtually on October 18, 2020 at 8:30-10:30 AM EDT. This year’s event will take stock of the experience of developing countries in the 5 years since the G20/OECD reached agreement on the 2015 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package. Tax experts and country authorities will discuss how developing countries can best navigate this field—which supports countries in exercising their taxing rights but also poses challenges in implementation—and questions regarding fairness in the distribution of taxing rights, and the impact of the BEPS agenda on economic competition and development of developing countries.

The attendance is by invitation-only. The event recording will be posted on this page. For any questions about Tax Sunday, please contact us at tax4dev@worldbank.org

  • The G20/OECD led Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project started in 2013 in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, with the aim of reducing the extensive losses in tax revenue estimated globally from tax minimization (“avoidance”) behavior by multi-national enterprises.  Agreement on the BEPS package was reached in 2015 with a series of “minimum standard” and recommended actions that would close important loopholes in the existing international tax architecture. Raising revenues will be further at the center of the policy agenda in many developing countries as they enter the recovery phase of the COVID-19 crisis—a key question therefore is, do the BEPS project minimum standards and recommendations help countries to close revenue gaps and establish a fair tax system that is attractive for international investors?

    This year’s agenda will focus on the experience of developing countries in the 5 years since the G20/OECD reached agreement on the 2015 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package. Tax experts and country authorities will discuss how developing countries can best navigate this field—which supports countries in exercising their taxing rights but also poses challenges in implementation—and questions regarding fairness in the distribution of taxing rights, and the impact of the BEPS agenda on economic competition and development of developing countries.

    The attendance for this event is by invitation-only. The event recording will be posted on this page. For any questions about Tax Sunday, please contact us at tax4dev@worldbank.org

  • Speaker bios and program [PDF]

    Time

    Description

    8:30-8:40 AM

    Welcoming Remarks

     

    • Mr. Marcello Estevão, Global Director, Macroeconomics, Trade and Investment Global Practice (MTI GP), World Bank
    • Mr. Vitor Gaspar, Director of the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund, IMF
    8:40-9:10 AM

    A conversation on the experience of BEPS in developing countries

     

    This conversation will focus on key questions about developing countries’ experiences since the agreement on the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package in 2015.

     

    Moderator

     

    • Ms. Victoria J. Perry, Deputy Director, Tax Policy, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF

     

    Speakers

     

    • Mr. Ahmed Kouchouk, Vice Minister of Finance for Fiscal Policies & Institutional Reform, Egypt
    • Ms. Marilou Uy, Director of the Intergovernmental Group of Twenty-Four on International Monetary Affairs and Development (G-24)
    • Prof. Michael Devereux, Professor of Business Taxation, Said Business School, University of Oxford
    9:10 – 9:50 AM

    Panel 1: Where we are with BEPS? A stock-take of progress from developing countries’ point of view

     

    In this panel session we will explore the present state and the challenges that BEPS poses for developing countries.

     

    Moderator

     

    • Ms. Chiara Bronchi, Practice Manager, Fiscal Policy and Sustainable Growth Unit, MTI GP, World Bank

     

    Panelists

     

    • Mr. Chris Morgan, Tax Partner, Head of Global Tax Policy, KPMG
    • Ms. Lee A. Sheppard, Contributing Editor, Tax Analysts’ Tax Notes Federal
    • Mr. Pascal Bizimana Ruganintwali, Commissioner General, Rwanda Revenue Authority, MINECOFIN, Rwanda
    • Mr. Rasmi Ranjan Das, Joint Secretary (Foreign Tax & Tax Research)-I, Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, India
    9:50 – 10:30 AM

    Panel 2: Future Directions

     

    This session will discuss what can be learned from the BEPS experience so far for achieving development outcomes through international taxation cooperation.

     

    Moderator

     

    • Ms. Mary Baine, Director of Tax Programs at the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF)

     

    Panelists

     

    • Mr. Alvin Mosioma, Executive Director, Tax Justice Network-Africa
    • Mr. Ben Dickinson, Head of the Global Relations and Development Division, OECD
    • Mr. Dang Ngoc Minh, Deputy Director General, General Department of Taxation, Ministry of Finance, Vietnam
    • Ms. Marlene Nembhard Parker, Chief Tax Counsel, Legislation, Treaties and International Tax Matters, Tax Administration Jamaica




  • Welcoming Remarks 

    A conversation on the experience of BEPS in developing countries

    Panel 1: Where we are with BEPS? A stock-take of progress from developing countries’ point of view

    Panel 2: Future Directions