OECD - Base Erosion & Profit Shifting

• The Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project is an ongoing project headed by the OECD that aims to set up an international framework to combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises (MNEs).


• The project, under the jurisdiction of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs, began in 2013 and originally only involved OECD and G20 countries.


• In November 2015, G20 leaders endorsed the OECD’s package of measures released as part of the base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) project. The BEPS project, an ambitious plan undertaken jointly by the OECD and G20 to overhaul the global international tax system, culminated this year in hundreds of pages of recommendations that, if adopted, could have a significant impact on cross-border trade and the competitiveness of domestic businesses.

• 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