BEPS: Will the current commitments and peer review model prove effective?

This article provides an overview of where the OECD and EU currently stand with regard to implementing the BEPS commitments. It firstly describes and outlines the background to the current international tax framework and explains why this is cracking at the seams. It then evaluates the OECD/G20 and EU strategies for combatting BEPS. After concluding that the fundamental flaws in the current framework, and which are driving BEPS, have not been fully addressed by any of the BEPS measures implemented to date, the article briefly considers how the malfunctioning of the current international tax system could be dealt with at its roots. Thereafter, the article discusses the respective methods chosen by the EU and the OECD for implementing and enforcing countries’ BEPS commitments. In their closing comments, the authors recommend further policy research in order to combat the causes of BEPS at the roots.