Financial Transparency Coalition

WASHINGTON, D.C.—The G20’s recent focus on financial transparency is a welcome development, but instituting bare minimum requirements, or plans that allow for exclusion, simply give illicit flows an opportunity to continue their hazardous drain on the world’s most vulnerable economies. Last Tuesday, the OECD released recommendations on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), which are aimed at cutting down on the ability of corporations to shift profits into tax havens. It’s well intentioned, but the execution leaves much to be desired. “Apparently, transparency now takes place behind closed doors,” said Porter McConnell, Manager of the Financial Transparency Coalition (FTC). “From a...

The Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, has issued some strong words against individuals and corporations funneling money out of the country to avoid taxes. Speaking at the National Council on Provinces, Ramaphosa called on citizens to report cases of tax evasion.

International aid organization, Oxfam, released a new report last Thursday claiming there are a number of flaws with the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development's (OECD) plan to implement global tax reforms. The project, known as the Action Plan on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), attempts to address profit shifting, a process in which corporations move profits to subsidiaries in low-tax jurisdictions to avoid paying taxes where the profits were actually generated. Often, the countries in which the real profits were made are developing countries with higher corporate...

The G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors met in Moscow this weekend, following the release of the OECD's report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS). That report, along with pieces of FTC's agenda money laundering, automatic information exchange and beneficial ownership made it into the communiqué released by the G20 representatives following their summit.