Other Publications

South Centre Comments on Pillar One – Amount B, 25 January 2023

South Centre Comments on Pillar One – Amount B

The South Centre provided its comments to the OECD Secretariat on Pillar One – Amount B. Amount B is part of the components of Pillar One to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy. It seeks to simplify transfer pricing rules for ‘baseline’ marketing and distribution functions.

Transfer pricing remains a highly complex and challenging area for developing countries. The ultimate objective of transfer pricing is to determine a market price for intra-company transactions, but doing this in practice is a largely subjective exercise, which makes it prone to abuse and profit shifting. Developing countries lose billions of dollars in revenue each year due to abusive transfer pricing.

Amount B is important for developing countries as it seeks to provide a simple method through which in-scope intra-company transactions can be priced, which can potentially ease tax administration, reduce disputes and increase tax certainty. However, the current form of the proposal renders it highly complex and unlikely to achieve its stated objective of simplification.

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South Centre Comments on the Amount A Draft MLC Provisions on DSTs & Other Relevant Similar Measures, 20 January 2023

South Centre Comments on the ‘Amount A Draft Multilateral Convention Provisions on Digital Services Taxes and Other Relevant Similar Measures

The South Centre provided its comments to the OECD Inclusive Framework’s Task Force on Digital Economy (TFDE) on the Draft Multilateral Convention Provisions on Digital Services Taxes and other Relevant Similar Measures under Amount A of Pillar One (MLC). This MLC is part of the components of Pillar One to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy. It aims to restrict countries which sign to the Pillar One MLC from implementing any digital tax policy solution apart from the OECD’s, such as Digital Service Taxes (DSTs) and other relevant similar measures.

These draft provisions are amongst the most controversial aspects of the Pillar One rules, as countries which decide to implement the OECD solution will be expected to give up the use of DSTs and similar measures on all companies, not just those in-scope of Amount A.

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Call to Action: “Now or Never” by H.E. Thabo Mbeki, 21 November 2022

Combating Illicit Financial Flows : “Now or Never”

Statement of H.E. Thabo Mbeki, Chairperson of the African Union High Level Panel on IFFs

“I fully support the creation of a globally inclusive, intergovernmental process at the UN. I urged all international organisations and Member States to resist attempts to block this important step forward, and thus call into question our global commitment to fighting illicit financial flows and corporate tax abuse in support of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

* H.E. Thabo Mbeki is also the Chair of the Board of the South Centre.

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Key Messages from UNCTAD & SC HLM on S-S Solidarity on Adaptation, 25 October 2022

Key Messages from the High-level meeting organized by UNCTAD and South Centre on Building South-South Solidarity on Climate Adaptation

Geneva, 25 October 2022

Drawing on the discussions from the meeting organised by UNCTAD and South Centre on 25th October 2022 on “Building South-South Solidarity for Climate Adaptation”, UNCTAD and South Centre believe that South-South solidarity is indispensable to ensure the needed international support for the Global South to break the eco-development trap, strengthen their climate adaption capacities, and achieve sustainable development. UNCTAD and South Centre therefore urge developing countries to build South-South solidarity and common positions in climate negotiations in the UNFCCC and the Paris Agreement as well as in the trade and environment discussions at the WTO and other multilateral fora.

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SC Contribution – Comments on Amount A of Pillar One, 24 August 2022

PROGRESS REPORT ON AMOUNT A OF PILLAR ONE

The BEPS Monitoring Group, 24 August 2022

The BEPS Monitoring Group submitted comments to the Public Consultation on the Progress Report on Amount A of Pillar One released by the OECD in July on behalf of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS. Abdul Muheet Chowdhary, Senior Programme Officer of the South Centre Tax Initiative, was a contributor.

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South Centre Comments on Progress Report on Amount A of Pillar One, 18 August 2022

South Centre Comments on Progress Report on Amount A of Pillar One

The South Centre offers its comments to the OECD Inclusive Framework’s Task Force on Digital Economy (TFDE) on the Progress Report on Amount A of Pillar One.

In June 2022, the Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CODA), a Special Initiative of the African Union, and the South Centre, jointly released country-level revenue estimates from Amount A compared with Article 12B of the UN Model Tax Convention, for the 84 combined Member States of the African Union and the South Centre. CODA and the South Centre have also provided a set of recommendations to developing countries on the taxation of the digitalized economy.

The Progress Report on Amount A, the latest version of the OECD’s proposed solution for taxation of the digitalized economy, makes it clear that the revenues expected for developing countries will dwindle even further than estimated by CODA and the South Centre.

With each successive update of the rules, the proposed solution is becoming increasingly less appealing to the developing countries. The OECD must, at a minimum, release revenue estimates for the 141 jurisdictions of the Inclusive Framework such that each can take an informed decision in the national interest. As an organization that sets ‘transparency’ standards, OECD must itself be transparent and provide countries with the essential information needed for making what may become a historic decision for the international taxation regime.

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Outcomes – CoDA-South Centre Dialogue Series on IFFs, 1 June 2022

Outcomes and Recommendations of the CoDA-South Centre Dialogue Series on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs): Comparing Tax Revenues to Be Raised by Developing Countries from the OECD and UN Solutions for Taxing the Digital Economy

The Coalition for Dialogue on Africa (CoDA) and the South Centre co-organised the first of a series of dialogues on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) on 1st June 2022. The dialogue was convened mainly to launch and discuss a research paper jointly commissioned by CoDA and the South Centre titled ‘A Tough Call? Comparing Tax Revenues to Be Raised by Developing Countries from the Amount A and the United Nations Model Treaty Article 12B Regimes’.

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Comments on Draft Annotated Outline of WHO Convention, Agreement or Other International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness & Response, 24 June 2022

South Centre Comments on the Draft Annotated Outline of a WHO Convention, Agreement or Other International Instrument on Pandemic Prevention, Preparedness and Response

24 June 2022

The South Centre welcomes the opportunity to provide comments on the draft annotated outline of a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response. Comments are provided with respect to the process and the content.

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