EXCLUSIVE: OECD’s Saint-Amans discusses EC push to force MNEs to publish CbCR data on their websites

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2026

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

EXCLUSIVE: OECD’s Saint-Amans discusses EC push to force MNEs to publish CbCR data on their websites

Pascal St-Amans

The European Commission’s crackdown on EU and foreign multinationals includes a plan to force MNEs operating in Europe to publish detailed country-by-country tax reports on their company websites – including financial data from offshore subsidiaries.

pascal-photo-jpega.jpg

The latest proposal, outlined on Tuesday after a week of pressure following the release of the Panama Papers, puts European Commissioners at loggerheads with the OECD, which does not advocate public disclosure of CbCR.

Pascal Saint-Amans, OECD director of tax policy and administration, spoke exclusively TP Week in an interview on Tuesday:

  •  “The agreement reached by the OECD along with the 44 other countries is that the reporting should go from one tax administration to another tax administration. The EU wants to go further and what we noticed is that the publicity in the reports will be limited to the transactions that occur within the EU and not beyond because all the other transactions will be grouped into one line which will be interesting, I’m not sure how much usefulness they will have from that. I don’t know how useful this will be but it will depend on how the EU plans to propose it.”

  • “It’s not the largely public CbCR for everybody and it’s limited to the EU, it goes beyond the agreement from the OECD, but in a sense that is not too contradictory of what was agreed at the OECD.”

  • “To the extent that it is limited to transaction occurring within the EU I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal. Not too concerned is maybe the right assessment.”

  • On whether this is unilateral action away from BEPS: “I’m pretty sure some countries like the US will think so."

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

The firm has hired a team of private client lawyers from Withers to launch in New York and Connecticut, though ITR analysis suggests it faces stiff competition
The ability of tax authorities to receive and analyse data is becoming ‘quite advanced’, warns Stuart Lang, head of EY’s compliance co-sourcing solution
The Court of Appeal ruling clarifies that treaty benefits are not abusive where transactions are commercially driven, providing greater certainty on “main purpose” anti-avoidance tests
Despite the Netherlands featuring an unusual concentration of World Tax-ranked technology-led providers, sources believe there’s a long way to go to challenge the established players
Ethics seems to be playing a subservient role to an entitlement culture borne out of a pervasive ‘revenue at all costs’ mentality at the big four
Historical World Tax data suggests the ‘largest law firm merger in history’ may not pose a serious threat to the world's leading tax practices
The repeal of Libya’s statute of limitations and tougher enforcement leave taxpayers navigating a high-stakes choice between conciliation and litigation
All the tax partners elevated across the UK, US and Singapore were private client specialists, continuing a market trend of intense investment and competition
Rolf van de Velde, dubbed ‘an expert chosen by experts’, is tasked with scaling Reptune’s self-service compliance offering
The newly combined firm brings together more than 3,500 practitioners across 52 offices, with flagship hubs in Seattle, London, Sydney and New York.
Gift this article