New OECD Recommendations May Affect Not-For-Profit Organizations

Over the past few years, the issue of "tax avoidance" has dominated agendas at both Canadian and international tax conferences.  The issue has also received considerable news coverage as a result of the actions of certain large companies with complicated tax structures that were seen not to be paying their fair share of taxes.  Many countries, including Canada, have been waiting to receive guidance on how to deal with this and other issues from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the premier supranational organization that helps governments implement international tax principles.

On September 16^th, the OECD released a series of much-anticipated reports containing recommendations for ensuring the profits of corporations with entities or operations in more than one country are taxed appropriately.  Charities and not-for-profit lawyers took note of these new reports since the recommendations also address the use of tax-exempt organizations