EU Finance Ministers talk BEPS and CBCR

Today saw the latest ECOFIN meeting under the Netherlands presidency of the EU.

A key item on the agenda was the first real discussion by the Finance Ministers of 24 of the EU Member States, on the BEPS inspired tax proposals of the European Commission. Pierre Moscovici was in attendance to present the Commission proposals and hear views.

Of all the proposals, the one that got the most specific debate was country-by-country reporting (CBCR), with George Osborne being clear on his view of public CBCR.

Google: Still searching for an answer

Today saw the latest phase of the Google saga, with Google and HMRC appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) again.

It is clear that the PAC is asking more informed questions each time tax is on the agenda, and we learnt some things from this hearing.

However, there was more evidence about where PAC scrutiny is and isn't effective than real new information about Google.