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BEPS, transfer pricing and digitalisation likely to dominate the tax landscape for the next two years

April 6, 2021

Tax experts from Kreston predict digitalisation of tax and transfer pricing will be dominant issues for the next two years,   in addition to base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS).

In a survey of attendees of Kreston’s International Tax Conference, a significant number of respondents indicated that BEPS and Transfer Pricing (both 19.35%), along with tax digitalisation (17.26%), were the top three issues likely to be at the forefront of industry debate.

Tax avoidance and evasion (15.48%), harmonisation of tax (11.31%) and tax investigations (10.7%) were also highly ranked, highlighting the public and political scrutiny these issues continue to receive around the globe.

Notably, one of the most contentious tax issues globally – the debate over the potential levying of wealth taxes – was viewed as least likely to dominate the agenda, with only 6.55% of respondents putting it in their top three choices.

Mark Taylor, Chair of the Global Tax Group at Kreston Global, said:

“These figures bear out our conversations within the Kreston International network: that the BEPS project and transfer pricing continue to dominate the international tax landscape for multi-nationals.

“The fact that tax digitalisation came second in our poll reflects the belief that governments across the globe have this high on their agenda. As ever the tax landscape globally continues to evolve and this is only likely to accelerate in the post-Covid era as individual countries look to rebalance their economies.”

The findings of the survey were initially presented at the 2021 International Tax Conference, held virtually on 24 March. The event brought together nearly 130 global tax professionals from 41 different countries across the Kreston network.