Developing a Standard for Country.by.Country Reporting Duty by Reviewing the Piloting Reports of Finnish State.Owned Companies

The Finnish Government implemented an Action Plan to Combat International Tax Avoidance in May 2014 and imposed an obligation of country.by.country (CbC) reporting for Finnish state.owned companies (min 50 % ownership). This measure is an important milestone in advancing international tax justice as tax transparency is the only way to find out if a company is paying its fair share to the right countries e.g. to developing countries where it has economic activities and gains its profits.The purpose of this project is to evaluate how state.owned companies have succeeded in their reporting duties right after the CbC.obligation has come into force in spring 2015. Based on the findings recommendations are made for a CbC.reporting standard to be used by all internationally operating companies. The ultimate criteria must be that an outsider is able to evaluate profoundly the company s tax responsibility. In addition the project evaluates how transparent and responsible tax payers the Finnish state.owned companies are and if their tax practices are in line with Finland s development policies.This project provides important data for state.owned and other companies politicians and citizens on the importance of CbC.reporting and on the minimum criteria that CbC.reporting needs to fulfill. There is an international consensus among the EU and the OECD countries that lack of adequate tax information is one of the main causes of business.related base erosion and profit shifting that is especially harmful for developing countries. The project s long.term aim is to contribute to the international debate by bringing the experiences good practices and recommendations on CbC.reporting from Finland into the international fora.