Global Reporting Initiative Paves the Way for More Transparency Around Corporate Tax Practices
December 21, 2018 /3BL Media/ Tax and payments to governments are one of the most important sources of income for governments and play a vital role in enabling the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. It is through tax and payments to governments that companies, big and small, contribute to society.
Recent tax related scandals, such as the release of the Panama and Paradise Papers, have led to a public debate around the world and a growing demand from investors, civil society, media and governments for more information on how companies approach taxes. To address this information need, the Global Sustainability Standards Board (GSSB), GRI’s independent standard-setting body, earlier this year launched a project to consider creating a new reporting standard aimed at promoting greater transparency around a company’s approach to taxes. Today it has published the draft standard for public comment.
“Stakeholders need and expect consistent, quality information about tax and payments to government in order to have an informed public debate around questions of equity, fairness and acceptability of tax approaches,” says Judy Kuszewski, Chair of the Global Sustainability Standards Board. “Tax revenues and their application are essential to society’s ability to deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals. Likewise, tax transparency promotes trust and credibility in the taxation system and in the tax practices of companies. It enables stakeholders to make informed judgments about whether a company’s position on tax and payments to governments reflects society’s priorities and creates a reliable basis for decision-making.”
The current state of public tax reporting leaves much to be desired. A recent study by RobecoSAM indicated that only 17% out of 830 companies surveyed were reporting publicly on tax payments at a country level, and most of these were only operating in a single country.
This number is anticipated to increase significantly. 80% of respondents in a recent OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) survey by Deloitte, targeting tax and finance managers and executives from multinational companies in 38 countries, said they expect public country-by-country reporting to be adopted globally in the next few years. GRI’s proposed tax standard aims to take a major step towards enabling such reporting by setting out common, well defined disclosures related to tax strategy, governance, control, risk, and stakeholder engagement, as well as country-by-country reporting of income, tax, and business activities.
“As the global standard-setter for ESG reporting, GRI is uniquely positioned for this pioneering work. The multi-stakeholder approach led by GRI’s independent Global Sustainability Standards Board allows a consensus position on transparency to be developed through the collaboration of all relevant stakeholder groups, exclusively in the public interest. This approach guarantees a globally acceptable standard that enables vital societal dialogue to address global sustainability challenges. We invite all interested stakeholders to engage during the upcoming public comment,” Kuszewski adds.
Further Information
The draft tax and payments to governments standard is open for public comment through 15 March 2019 here: bit.ly/TaxDisclosure
Press contact
Peter Paul van de Wijs
Chief External Affairs Officer, GRI
vandewijs@globalreporting.org
+31 (0) 6 23132463
About GRI
GRI is an independent international organization that has pioneered sustainability reporting since 1997. GRI helps businesses and governments worldwide understand and communicate their impact on critical sustainability issues such as climate change, human rights, governance and social well-being. This enables real action to create social, environmental and economic benefits for everyone. The GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards are developed with true multi-stakeholder contributions and rooted in the public interest.
