IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/notajo/v2019y2019i1p63-86n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

BEPS Policy Failure—The Case of EU Country-By-Country Reporting

Author

Listed:
  • Murphy Richard

    (Professor of Practice in International Political Economy, City University, London, United Kingdom)

  • Janský Petr

    (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic)

  • Shah Atul

    (City University of London, London, United Kingdom)

Abstract

The tax gap between taxes that are “actually” paid and taxes that “ought” to have been paid by multinational corporate entities has become an area of huge public policy concern in the recent decades. This study reviews the impact of new legislation to reveal the tax gap created by the EU banks and financial institutions passed in 2013 and in particular of the quality of the resulting country-by-country reporting (CBCR) requirement for banks. Although resulting tax gap estimates are noted, they suffer due to significant problems in the published data; much of it is due to the quality of the regulation requiring its publication and implementation. The findings reveal a lack of understanding of the technical and structural weaknesses of accounting in a transnational context in the design of this regulation. CBCR is destined to fail in achieving its regulatory objectives in this context unless necessary reform of the regulation is undertaken.

Suggested Citation

  • Murphy Richard & Janský Petr & Shah Atul, 2019. "BEPS Policy Failure—The Case of EU Country-By-Country Reporting," Nordic Tax Journal, Sciendo, vol. 2019(1), pages 63-86, January.
  • Handle: RePEc:vrs:notajo:v:2019:y:2019:i:1:p:63-86:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/ntaxj-2019-0005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/ntaxj-2019-0005
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/ntaxj-2019-0005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Petr Janský, 2020. "European banks and tax havens: evidence from country-by-country reporting," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(54), pages 5967-5985, November.
    2. Paul Gillis & Richard Petty & Roy Suddaby, 2014. "The transnational regulation of accounting: insights, gaps and an agenda for future research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 27(6), pages 894-902, July.
    3. Javier Garcia-Bernardo & Petr Janský & Thomas Tørsløv, 2021. "Multinational corporations and tax havens: evidence from country-by-country reporting," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(6), pages 1519-1561, December.
    4. Verena K. Dutt & Christopher A. Ludwig & Katharina Nicolay & Heiko Vay & Johannes Voget, 2019. "Increasing tax transparency: investor reactions to the country-by-country reporting requirement for EU financial institutions," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 26(6), pages 1259-1290, December.
    5. Vincent Bouvatier & Gunther Capelle-Blancard & Anne-Laure Delatte, 2017. "Banks Defy Gravity in Tax Havens," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-03101505, HAL.
    6. Vincent Bouvatier & Gunther Capelle & Anne-Laure Delatte, 2017. "Banks in Tax Havens: First Evidence based on Country-by-Country Reporting," European Economy - Discussion Papers 055, Directorate General Economic and Financial Affairs (DG ECFIN), European Commission.
    7. Paul Gillis & Richard Petty & Roy Suddaby, 2014. "The transnational regulation of accounting: insights, gaps and an agenda for future research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 27(5), pages 894-902.
    8. Picciotto, Sol, 2017. "Taxing Multinational Enterprises as Unitary Firms," Working Papers 12851, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    9. Fatica, Serena & Wildmer, Gregori, 2018. "Profit shifting by EU banks: evidence from country-by-country reporting," Working Papers 2018-04, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    10. Alex Cobham & Petr Janský & Markus Meinzer, . "A half-century of resistance to corporate disclosure," UNCTAD Transnational Corporations Journal, United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
    11. Sikka, Prem & Murphy, Richard, 2015. "Unitary Taxation: Tax Base and the Role of Accounting," Working Papers 11172, Institute of Development Studies, International Centre for Tax and Development.
    12. Cobham, Alex & Faccio, Tommaso & FitzGerald, Valpy, 2019. "Global inequalities in taxing rights: An early evaluation of the OECD tax reform proposals," SocArXiv j3p48, Center for Open Science.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Konovalova, Mayya & Tuck, Penelope & Ormeño Pérez, Rodrigo, 2023. "In search of the owner: Regulating through transparency," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    2. Hackett, Franki & Janský, Petr, 2023. "Incremental improvement: Evaluating the emancipatory impact of public country-by-country reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Javier Garcia-Bernardo & Petr Janský & Thomas Tørsløv, 2021. "Multinational corporations and tax havens: evidence from country-by-country reporting," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 28(6), pages 1519-1561, December.
    2. Müller, Raphael & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2020. "On the determinants and effects of corporate tax transparency: Review of an emerging literature," ZEW Discussion Papers 20-063, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    3. Dutt, Verena K. & Nicolay, Katharina & Vay, Heiko & Voget, Johannes, 2019. "Can European banks' country-by-country reports reveal profit shifting? An analysis of the information content of EU banks' disclosures," ZEW Discussion Papers 19-042, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    4. Dutt, Verena & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2021. "Der EU-Vorschlag zum Country-by-Country Reporting im Internet: Kosten, Nutzen, Konsequenzen," Studien, Stiftung Familienunternehmen / Foundation for Family Businesses, number 250010, June.
    5. Dutt, Verena K. & Nicolay, Katharina & Spengel, Christoph, 2021. "Reporting behavior and transparency in European banks' country-by-country reports," ZEW Discussion Papers 21-019, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Hackett, Franki & Janský, Petr, 2023. "Incremental improvement: Evaluating the emancipatory impact of public country-by-country reporting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    7. Dutt, Verena K. & Spengel, Christoph & Vay, Heiko, 2021. "The EU proposal for country-by-country reporting on the internet: Costs, Benefits and Consequences," Studien, Stiftung Familienunternehmen / Foundation for Family Businesses, number 250025, June.
    8. Biondi Yuri, 2017. "The Firm as an Enterprise Entity and the Tax Avoidance Conundrum: Perspectives from Accounting Theory and Policy," Accounting, Economics, and Law: A Convivium, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-8, April.
    9. Giulia Aliprandi & Mona Baraké & Paul-Emmanuel Chouc, 2021. "Have European Banks left tax haven? Evidence from country-by-country data," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-03350725, HAL.
    10. Daoust, Laurence, 2020. "Playing the Big Four recruitment game: The tension between illusio and reflexivity," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    11. Garcia-Bernardo, Javier & Janský, Petr, 2024. "Profit shifting of multinational corporations worldwide," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    12. Canning, Mary & O'Dwyer, Brendan, 2016. "Institutional work and regulatory change in the accounting profession," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 1-21.
    13. Petr Procházka, 2018. "Implementation of EU directives regarding BEPS Action Plan in Czechia and other Central and Eastern European states [Implementace směrnic EU týkajících se Akčního plánu BEPS v Česku a dalších zemíc," Současná Evropa, Prague University of Economics and Business, vol. 2018(2), pages 36-48.
    14. Crawford Spence & Chris Carter & Ataur Belal & Javier Husillos & Claire Dambrin & Pablo Archel, 2016. "Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 30(1), pages 3-20, February.
    15. Olbert, Marcel & Spengel, Christoph & Weck, Stefan, 2023. "Multinational firms in tax havens: Corporate motives, regulatory countermeasures, and recent statistics," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-036, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    16. Petr Janský, 2020. "European banks and tax havens: evidence from country-by-country reporting," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(54), pages 5967-5985, November.
    17. Fatica, Serena & Wildmer, Gregori, 2018. "Profit shifting by EU banks: evidence from country-by-country reporting," Working Papers 2018-04, Joint Research Centre, European Commission.
    18. Peter Gerbrands & Brigitte Unger & Joras Ferwerda, 2022. "Bilateral responsive regulation and international tax competition: An agent‐based simulation," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 16(3), pages 760-780, July.
    19. Löhlein, Lukas, 2016. "From peer review to PCAOB inspections: Regulating for audit quality in the U.S," Journal of Accounting Literature, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 28-47.
    20. Löhlein, Lukas, 2016. "From peer review to PCAOB inspections: regulating for audit quality in the U.S," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 67147, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:notajo:v:2019:y:2019:i:1:p:63-86:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.