Lawmakers Tell Treasury to Go Easy on Multinational Tax Reporting Changes

The chairmen of Congress’s two main tax committees, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Senate Finance Committee chairman Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, have written to Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew saying he should hold off on developing country-by-country reporting regulations for taxation of multinational corporations.

[IMGCAP(1)]In a letter Thursday, Hatch and Ryan reiterated their concerns about the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development’s project on base erosion and profit shifting, or BEPS, by multinationals seeking to lower their tax bills.

They had sent an earlier letter back in June expressing their misgivings about U.S. participation in the project (see Lawmakers Voice Concern about Impact of OECD BEPS Tax Reforms on U.S. Interests). They have now extended those concerns to the OECD’s country-by-country reporting proposals and are asking Lew to respond to their original missive.

“Rather than expend additional administrative resources on the CbC regulatory project, we encourage Treasury to focus in the near term on preparing and providing the legal memorandum and other documentation requested in our June 9 letter to you,” wrote Hatch and Ryan. “In addition, we ask that Treasury officials consider the results of the GAO analysis of the BEPS project and recommendations before moving forward with any CbC-related guidance.”

[IMGCAP(2)]Last month, Hatch asked the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office to undertake an in-depth analysis of the multiple provisions and actions under contemplation in the OECD’s BEPS project.

Hatch also asked the GAO to look into how such policies would affect the U.S. economy.