BEPS and Aggressive Tax Planning: Are the BEPS-OECD Measures to Tackle Aggressive Tax Planning Feasible for Countries in South America and the Sub-Saharan African Region?

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to assess the feasibility to introduce the OECD-BEPS measures to deal with aggressive tax planning in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. The BEPS and its Action Plan have been developed by the OECD following the G20 mandate and it provides new international tax standards to be applicable to all countries including OECD and non-OECD countries.This paper will provide a comparative analysis of the South America and the Sub-Saharan African region taking into account the country’s economic development, tax administration capacity and resources, and the use (or not) of domestic laws and tax treaty rules to tackle aggressive tax planning. The South American and Sub-Saharan African regions have been chosen since they consist mostly of developing (non-OECD) countries. The comparative analysis of the exchange of best practices and challenges in these two regions will be useful for the OECD-BEPS Project and for the BEPS Multilateral Instrument that will be open for adoption by developing and developed countries.This paper is structured as follows: Section 1 contains a short introduction to the BEPS Actions dealing with aggressive tax planning and the discussions at OECD and UN level. Section 2 will provide the assessment of feasibility of the BEPS in South America and Sub-Saharan Africa. Finally, in Section 3, conclusions and recommendations will be presented.