China drafted into global tax battle
Beijing endorses multilateral effort against evasion, with impact from the plan hatched by G20 and OECD likely to be felt in Hong Kong
The mainland will take part in a multilateral action plan to fight tax evasion devised by the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which is expected to have a significant impact on the mainland and Hong Kong.
Patrick Yip, deputy national mergers and acquisitions leader at financial firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, said it was an important move and probably the first time Beijing had joined a multilateral effort to combat aggressive tax evasion.
The OECD unveiled its action plan to tackle tax evasion by multinationals yesterday. All Group of 20 nations were expected to join the initiative, OECD tax director Pascal Saint-Amans said.
"The G20 nations agree this action plan is good to address non-taxation," he said. "It's an ambitious action plan. There is the political impetus to move there. The countries are strongly asking for this."
China is a member of the G20 but not the OECD.
The OECD has 34 member nations, mostly developed countries including the United States, Britain, Australia, France and Japan.
The action plan would better align tax in a location with the economic activity in that location, the OECD said in a report.
