Pacific Rim Discussions Focus on Tax-Data Exchange

In the 2013 sci-fi movie “Pacific Rim,” humans and governments come together to battle legions of sea monsters.

I can safely report that the 2016 Pacific Rim Tax Institute conference featured less dramatic, more realistic scenes and dialogue. The mission of the Institute is to bring international tax policy and management issues to the forefront of corporate tax leaders and tax professionals, focusing on the Pacific Rim arena. Yet the purpose of the conference was also to bring together people and governments from around the world – to discuss issues and challenges related to BEPS compliance. Vertex was the Titanium Sponsor of the two-day event, which attracted roughly 150 global executives and government officials, including officials from the OECD and the IRS.

The conference provided a venue for Pacific Rim countries to talk about their most pressing tax issues and developments with OECD tax officials, multinational tax officers, and other tax experts. While some of the discussions were intense, the dialogue was constructive. The bulk of discussions focused on tax data transparency, privacy and security as it relates to BEPS compliance and the country-by-country reporting (CbCR) requirements in particular.

Given the importance of these issues – and the legions of tax data that will soon be exchanged between global companies and governments – this constructive dialogue will continue, and we will continue to support and participate in those sequels.