page_title: Base erosion and profit shifting
hierarchical_section_title: Base erosion and profit shifting
caption_attribution_description: Rear view of the Treasury Department building in Washington, D.C. The building is a National Historic Landmark.
context_page_description: Base erosion and profit shifting refers to corporate tax planning strategies used by multinationals to "shift" profits from higher-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax jurisdictions, thus "eroding" the "tax-base" of the higher-tax jurisdictions.
  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development define BEPS strategies as also "exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules"; however, academics proved corporate tax havens, who are the largest global BEPS hubs, use OECD–whitelisted tax structures and OECD–compliant BEPS tools.
  Corporate tax havens offer BEPS tools to "shift" profits to the haven, and additional BEPS tools to avoid paying taxes within the haven. BEPS tools are associated mostly with U.S. technology and life science multinationals. Tax academics showed use of the BEPS tools by U.S. multinationals, via tax havens, maximised long–term U.S. exchequer receipts and shareholder return, at the expense of others.
context_section_description: Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) refers to corporate tax planning strategies used by multinationals to "shift" profits from higher-tax jurisdictions to lower-tax jurisdictions, thus "eroding" the "tax-base" of the higher-tax jurisdictions.
  The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) define BEPS strategies as also "exploiting gaps and mismatches in tax rules"; however, academics proved corporate tax havens (such as Ireland, the Caribbean, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Singapore, Switzerland, and Hong Kong), who are the largest global BEPS hubs, use OECD–whitelisted tax structures and OECD–compliant BEPS tools.
  Corporate tax havens offer BEPS tools to "shift" profits to the haven, and additional BEPS tools to avoid paying taxes within the haven (e.g. Ireland's "CAIA tool"). BEPS tools are associated mostly with U.S. technology and life science multinationals. Tax academics showed use of the BEPS tools by U.S. multinationals, via tax havens, maximised long–term U.S. exchequer receipts and shareholder return, at the expense of others.
caption: The United States Department of the Treasury decided against signing the 2016 OECD anti–BEPS MLI initiative from the § OECD BEPS Project, stating that the U.S.: "has a low degree of exposure to base erosion and profit shifting".[1]  International tax academics showed in 2018 that U.S. multinationals are the largest users of BEPS tools in the world;[2] while U.S tax academics demonstrated, even as early as 1994, that the U.S. exchequer is a net beneficiary from the use of tax havens and BEPS by U.S. multinationals.[3][4]
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "NIKON", "Image Model": "COOLPIX L18", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Nero PhotoSnap 1, 2, 0, 19", "Image DateTime": "2008:05:26 20:32:03", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail Software": "Nero PhotoSnap 1, 2, 0, 19", "Thumbnail DateTime": "2008:05:26 20:32:04", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1618", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5791", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:05:26 15:45:32", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:05:26 15:45:32", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "57/10", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "72", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3264", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "35", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}