OREANDA-NEWS. July 14, 2015. The OECD is holding three tax events on the side-lines of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Together with the UNDP, the OECD today launched the Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative to help the tax administrations of developing countries benefit from the expertise of skilled tax inspectors from developed and emerging economies. The initiative is a concrete deliverable for the Conference. (Read the press release.)

On Tuesday 14 July, the OECD will hold a seminar on the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting project. More than 60 countries – half of them developed countries and the other half developing and emerging countries – participate in the BEPS project, which aims to restore international tax rules and the ability of all countries to counter tax avoidance by multinationals. Developing countries have participated in all technical discussions, with more than 90 involved through different consultation processes. The finance ministers of Jamaica, Senegal and South Africa, who have been closely involved in the BEPS project, will share their views during the event. 

The BEPs initiative offers the best chance to fix the deficiencies of the international tax rules to counteract double non-taxation. By realigning the location of profits and the location of activities, we make it possible for all countries to better collect their taxes, in particular developing countries, which are even more exposed to BEPS than others.

The OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes will also hold a side event on Tuesday 14 July to showcase the progress made towards transparency and how developing countries have taken ownership of the agenda, with 127 jurisdictions participating on an equal footing. Several ministers, in particular from African countries, will advertise the "African Initiative" of the Forum, which promotes the move towards automatic exchange of information for African countries.

Addressing BEPS will allow countries to collect taxes where activities generate profits and better share the rights to tax. It will also allow countries to debate effectively the balance between source and residence taxation, since today profits often escape both source and residence.

“Although initiated by the G20 and the OECD, this work on taxation belongs to the international community at large,” Mr. Gurr?a said. “We are weeks away from delivering the package of measures to counter base erosion and profit shifting and we have already delivered the template for automatic exchange of information. The OECD looks forward to continuing working with developing countries to ensure their views are well taken into account,” he said.

For further information, journalists should contact Catherine Bremer in the OECD Media Office.