Ireland Not a Tax Haven

Ireland is emphatically not a tax haven, according to the head of the tax division of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The comments from Pascal Saint-Amans come in the wake of accusations made in parliamentary committees in both the US and UK that large global companies use Ireland as part of their efforts to pay minimal amounts of corporation taxes in any jurisdiction. Speaking via video-link to the Oireachtas joint subcommittee on global taxation, Mr Saint-Amans added, however, that Ireland could take unilateral action to curb avoidance by, for instance, having stricter rules on corporation tax for companies formally resident in Ireland.

He also praised the Irish authorities for their “very active” efforts in supporting changes to multilateral taxation rules which would lessen incidences of companies avoiding the payment of corporation tax.

Mr Saint-Amans said the objective of the new rules was to ensure as far as is possible that profit taxes are levied in the jurisdictions in which the profits are generated. Source: The Irish Times