OECD Economics Department Working Papers
The views expressed in these papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the OECD or of the governments of its member countries.
- Forthcoming titles
- ISSN: 18151973 (online)
- https://doi.org/10.1787/18151973
Anti-avoidance rules against international tax planning
A classification
This paper describes the main anti-avoidance rules against international tax planning by multinational enterprises in OECD and G20 countries. Building on this information and on previous classification efforts in the literature, a new classification of anti-avoidance strength is compiled. It takes into account five key dimensions of anti-avoidance: (i) transfer price rules and documentation requirements; (ii) rules on interest deductibility such as thin capitalisation and interest-to-earnings rules to prevent the manipulation of debt location; (iii) controlled foreign company (CFC) rules; (iv) general anti-avoidance rules (GAARs); and (v) withholding taxes on interest payments, royalties and dividends, taking into account bilateral tax treaties. The classification is based on a simple framework aiming to capture the main features of anti-avoidance rules in a harmonised way across countries, although it inevitably leaves aside certain country-specific characteristics as well as the enforcement of existing rules. The empirical analysis in Johansson et al., (2016), which is based on this classification, suggests that strong anti-avoidance rules can reduce profit shifting.
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