The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released a new global tax reporting framework, the Model Rules for Reporting by Platform Operators with respect to Sellers in the Sharing and Gig Economy (“MRDP”). Under the MRDP, digital platforms will be required to collect information on the income realised by those offering accommodation, transport and personal services through platforms and to report the information to tax authorities.

The MRDP were developed in light of the rapid growth of the digital economy and in response to calls for a global reporting framework for digital platforms. As the digitalisation of the economy entails a shift from traditional employment contracts towards independent work, activities facilitated by platforms may not always be reported to tax administrations, either by third parties or by taxpayers themselves. The platform economy also means increased access to information for tax administrations, as it brings activities previously carried out in the informal cash economy onto digital platforms.

The MRDP are designed to help taxpayers in being compliant with their tax obligations, while ensuring a level-playing field with traditional businesses, in key sectors of the sharing and gig economy. They further seek to avoid a proliferation of different and unilateral reporting regimes, allow for the use of novel technology solutions and help create a sustainable environment supporting the growth of the digital economy.

‘The approval of the MRDP by the G20/OECD Inclusive Framework on BEPS proves that multilateral solutions to address tax challenges in the digital economy are possible and that they are to the benefit of tax administrations, taxpayers and businesses alike’, said Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration in a press release.

The MRDP are part of a wider strategy of the OECD to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy and are designed to serve as a basis for further policy developments in increasing tax transparency to create a stable environment for the growth of the digital economy.

To support the swift and coherent implementation of the MRDP, the OECD will take forward work on the international legal and technical framework to facilitate the automatic exchange of the information collected under the MRDP.

 

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