BEPS and tax structuring – how does it affect the shipping industry?

There has been much recent focus on tax structures employed by multi-national corporations. This has led to an initiative, spearheaded by the OECD, to combat "base erosion and profit shifting", or BEPS. The shipping industry is likely to be affected both directly and indirectly by the BEPS initiative - directly, by the new laws and policies that are likely to be introduced in various countries in order to tackle "aggressive tax planning", and indirectly, by the negative change in public opinion towards businesses that do not pay their "fair share" of taxes.

This article explores in a little more detail what the BEPS project is and what the impact could be on typical arrangements that exist in the shipping sector.