OREANDA-NEWS. April 13, 2016. SSE fully supports the European Commission’s proposed new rules announced today on tax transparency for the EU’s largest companies.

The proposals aim to increase corporate tax transparency and tackle tax avoidance in Europe.

SSE already publishes this information; country by country reporting being a key element of the enhanced tax transparency required to achieve Fair Tax Mark accreditation.  SSE achieved Fair Tax Mark accreditation in 2014, and continues to be the only FTSE 100 company which has done so.

Martin McEwen, SSE’s head of tax welcomed the new measures as a step to help build public trust.  He said:  “Country by country reporting allows customers and wider society to see where the money is made and whether a company is paying its fair share in each of the places it operates.

“SSE already does it as part of the Fair Tax Mark accreditation process and believes that this is a necessary step for reassuring public trust in multi-national companies”

Corporate tax avoidance is estimated to cost EU countries EUR 50-70 billion a year in lost tax revenues.  Paying the right tax, in the right way, at the right time is fundamental to running a responsible business that contributes to the very societies it relies upon to do business.

SSE set a new benchmark for tax transparency disclosing well beyond the current UK company law requirements and has been accredited for it’s approach for the last two years.  

Research conducted by SSE last year found six out of seven (86 per cent) people believe companies should pay tax to a country based on the amount of business or profit is generated in that country while more than two thirds (69 per cent) say the Government should consider how a company pays its taxes when awarding contracts.

This proposal for mandatory public country-by-country reporting will enable the public to scrutinise the tax behaviour of multinationals and in turn, encourage companies to pay tax where they make their profit.