Selskapsskatt spiller en viktig rolle for å finansiere offentlig virksomhet i industriland og kan være enda viktigere i mange utviklingsland. Selskaper drar nytte av samfunnets juridiske og finansielle infrastruktur. Gjennom betaling av skatt bidrar selskaper til finansiering av slik infrastruktur.
Ansvarlig forvaltningsvirksomhet medfører at selskaper har en skattepraksis som er formålstjenlig, veloverveid og åpen. I tråd med G20s/OECDs prinsipper for selskapsstyring forventer vi at selskapenes styrer tar hensyn til interessene til alle relevante parter.
Våre forventninger om skatt og åpenhet baserer seg på tre prinsipper. Det første prinsippet er at skatt bør betales der økonomiske verdier skapes. Det andre er at selskapenes skatteordninger er styrets ansvar. Det tredje prinsippet går ut på at offentlig land-for-land-rapportering er et sentral element i åpen selskapsrapportering.
Resten av forventningsdokmentet er på engelsk.
International principles for responsible business conduct establish that companies should comply with both the letter and the spirit of the tax laws in all the countries in which they operate. There is nevertheless a widespread perception that some multinational enterprises pay less than appropriate levels of tax through the use of improper tax avoidance and tax evasion strategies, including base erosion and profit shifting. Recent national and international tax policy efforts have concentrated on reducing the incentives and scope for such practices. Critical to these efforts are the various transparency initiatives being introduced in many countries, such as enhanced filing obligations, country-by-country tax reporting requirements and the spontaneous exchange of tax rulings issued to companies.
Board accountability and transparency underpin appropriate and prudent tax behaviour. Some multinational enterprises have begun to make public their global tax policies. This is nevertheless not yet default behaviour. The G20/OECD Principles of Corporate Governance highlight how boards increasingly are expected to oversee the finance and tax planning strategies management is allowed to conduct, and to discourage the pursuit of aggressive tax avoidance. The OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises emphasise the role of internal tax control functions and that boards should be informed of material tax risks. We share the view that corporate tax strategy is a board responsibility.
Representatives of the investment community have nevertheless been slow to issue expectations as to how businesses should govern and conduct their tax affairs. This may be one reason why companies and business commentators often assert that companies, through their directors, owe a fiduciary duty to their shareholders to minimise taxes.
The long-term validity of this assertion and whether it necessarily serves investor interests is uncertain. Businesses engaged in aggressive tax behaviour may in some ways rely on this assertion to pass reputational tax risks onto their investors. Aggressive tax behaviour may also create additional investment risks that are hard for investors to diligence or monitor. Business operations that are unduly shaped by tax planning rather than long-term value creation may be more vulnerable to changes in regulation or enforcement. Similar risks may arise where companies are reliant on material tax incentives that are vulnerable to expiration or changed criteria.
Transparency around tax payments and practices is an important way in which companies demonstrate their contribution to society. Such transparency fosters trust and confidence and is conducive to the maintenance of a stable business environment. Tax disclosures are also important elements of investors’ financial analysis. The complexity of tax regimes means that meaningful tax reporting often requires contextual information as well as quantitative financial information. Tax disclosures made in accordance with best practice principles and reporting standards such as GRI 207 and the B Team Responsible Tax Principles are more likely to provide the tax information relevant to investors. With the increasing use of taxes as policy instruments to drive sustainability, disclosures relating to those instruments will be increasingly valuable to investors and other stakeholders.
As an investor, geographical and jurisdictional information on value generation and tax is critical to our analysis of opportunities and risks to our investments. Complex or opaque ownership and organisational structures hamper transparency and may compromise investors’ fundamental financial analysis. We recognise that geographical reporting of value generation and taxes paid could theoretically impair competitive advantage in specific instances, but we believe this is unlikely to be the case for the vast majority of multinational companies. We also believe that the benefits of such disclosure are highly likely to outweigh the costs.
Our expectations on tax and transparency rest on three main principles. The first is that companies should comply with the letter and the spirit of tax laws and pay appropriate taxes where economic value is generated. The second is that company tax arrangements are a board responsibility. The third is that tax transparency, including public country-by-country reporting, is a core element of responsible tax behaviour.
