The Department of Finance has launched a consultation on the OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) project.

The OECD BEPS project is examining various tax issues and analysing the way that international tax rules and individual country rules can create mismatches and give rise to unintended consequences such as double non-taxation. One of the goals of the BEPS project is to ensure that taxation rights are better aligned with real economic activity. The consultation paper highlights the potential opportunities that this presents for Ireland as a hub for the centralisation of international business operations. Importantly the consultation paper notes that Ireland remains 100% committed to its 12.5% corporation tax rate and that this will not change.

Interested parties are invited to submit their views on the potential implications of the BEPS project in an Irish context and how Ireland’s domestic tax system might best respond to international tax changes. The consultation is open until 22 July 2014.

Contributed by Rachel Fox.