A/HRC/31/61
for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation. To promote accountability, his
recommendations are addressed to specific stakeholders.
Recommendations to Member States
78.
States should ensure that human rights are respected and advanced in all
measures and activities undertaken to curb illicit financial flows.
79.
States should actively participate in the global movement towards automatic
exchange of tax information, in order to prevent hiding of offshore assets and income
streams. Out of consideration for the unique challenges faced by developing countries,
and in the spirit of the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, there
should be a fixed transition period during which lower-income countries receive tax
information automatically without a requirement for full reciprocity. This will allow
time for their domestic systems to be modified and improved, so that they are able to
take full advantage of the benefits of information exchange.
80.
States should impose a legal requirement for the public disclosure of beneficial
ownership information, in order to eliminate the potential for anonymous ownership
of companies, trusts and foundations.
81.
States should require transnational businesses to report publicly on a countryby-country basis, in order to expose major misalignments between the distribution of
profit and the location of real economic activity. These reports should be made freely
available to tax administrations and should be made available to the public within a
certain period of filing.
82.
States must hold financial institutions to account for their role in facilitating tax
evasion. Robust regimes should be put in place for the supervision of financial
institutions by financial supervision agencies. Such regimes should require mandatory
reporting of transactions that may involve illicit activity. States should ensure that
financial and service providers comply with strict due diligence procedures, as laid
out, for example, in the Financial Action Task Force recommendations.
83.
States should conduct human rights impact assessments of their tax policies, to
ensure that they do not have negative impacts abroad. These should be periodic and
independently verified, with public participation in defining the risks and potential
extraterritorial impacts. Impact assessments should analyse not only the implications
for revenue streams, but also the distributive and governance spillover effects of a
country’s tax regime abroad. If and when negative spillovers are found, impact
assessments should trigger policy action including explicit recommendations for
responsible parties and clear deadlines for remedies and redress.
84.
States should ensure that human rights impacts caused by corporate tax abuse
should form part of due diligence required by business actors and addressed in
national action plans on business and human rights.
85.
States should uphold their commitments in the Addis Ababa Action Agenda
and target 17.1 of the Sustainable Development Goals with respect to capacitybuilding for tax administrations, including through targeted use of ODA. Technical
assistance and other forms of support should also be provided, including through
South-South cooperation or participation in the Addis Tax Initiative, launched at the
third International Conference on Financing for Development.
86.
Capacity-building initiatives in other key areas for fighting tax abuse should
receive similar support. To curb trade misinvoicing, developed countries should
contribute toward the development of a global trade-pricing database that would give
customs officials access to global average price of products. Financial and other forms
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