A former tax supervisor at a ‘big four’ firm, Alan McLean has worked at energy company Shell for more than 30 years.
At Shell, he is responsible for managing the tax affairs of the group’s companies in over 80 countries.
From policy to dispute resolution and strategy, McLean is an expert in tax. As executive vice president controller, he is responsible for reporting any governance or risk to the company.
But his work does not stop at Shell. McLean is chair of the tax committee of Business at the OECD (BIAC) and has become a key voice at the organisation, especially when it comes to pillar two and other reform packages.
In January 2022, McLean did not hide his criticism over the OECD model rules on pillar two. The BIAC tax chair said the policy failed to fairly address the issues with the global anti-base erosion (GloBE) rule and suggested reducing the GloBE attribution or applying a top-up tax in the year when the base erosion benefits the company.
But McLean also made comments regarding the OECD’s pillar one safe harbour. In September, he argued that the OECD should revise the progress report and seek further simplicity and clarity.
While the OECD continues its effort to implement the two-pillar solution in 2023, we are sure to be hearing more from McLean.
