Taxes, profits on the agenda in Apec workshop

THE Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) will be hosting a workshop this week to look at ways to handle issues on base erosion and profit-shifting (BEPS) for economies within Apec.
More than 50 delegates from across the Apec region will attend the workshop, which is a key initiative of the Apec finance ministers’ process. The five-day workshop will provide a forum for policy-makers and tax administrators from Apec member economies to address multi-national tax avoidance practices by discussing implementation issues relating to BEPS.
Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations. Under the inclusive framework, over 100 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating to implement the BEPS measures and tackle BEPS.
The workshop will also provide opportunities for member economies to discuss implementation challenges in moving towards the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) under the common reporting standard (CRS).
Apec member economies will have the opportunity to hear from the OECD on recent developments.
In 2017 in Vietnam, Apec finance and central bank deputies supported a BEPS work plan that was founded on the Cebu action plan for last year and this year.
A workshop on BEPS was later held in Hanoi, Vietnam, in May last year.
The ‘Advancing BEPS and AEOI priorities in Apec’ workshop will build on the momentum gained in Vietnam, with outcomes to be reported to the Apec finance ministers’ meeting to be held in Port Moresby in mid-October.