[ad_1]
The "Big Four" accounting firms have been awarded multi-million dollar contracts with the European Commission over the last five years to advise on tax policy, raising concerns about conflicts of interest. Criticism of the tax advice provided by the "big four" – Deloitte, KPMG, EY and PwC – rose following the scandal of Luxembourg leaks in 2014 which revealed how many of the largest companies in the world have negotiated tax agreements in the Grand Duchy , often with This was followed by the leakage of Panama Papers from thousands of financial documents in 2016 and the Paradise Papers scandal last year, which again exposed the widespread use of copyright structures. Offshore tax evasion by individuals and wealthy businesses – often facilitated by law firms and accountants.
Despite these controversies, the "big four" received nearly 8 million euros from the European Commission's Directorate General Taxation and Customs Union in 2016.
PwC, Deloitte and KPMG received 10, 5 million euros organization in January this year for studies on "various tax and customs issues", according to Corporate Europe Observatory, a research and research group based in Brussels that badyzed the offers awarded to companies by the commission.
Karthik Ramanna, a professor at the Blavatnik School of Governance at the University of Oxford, said about the numbers: "Of course, it hurts the big four. not a big novelty nowadays to call the big four on the violations of ethics.
"The people who look really silly are the European Commission. They should know better than inviting foxes to consult on the henhouse's safety measures. "
The Commission's tax department has also awarded PwC nearly 7 million euros, Deloitte and EY in 2014 for management consulting services "for studies and comparative badyzes in various tax and customs areas", According to the Corporate Europe Observatory.
The organization stated that the figures showed that "the main facilitators of tax evasion [are] being paid to produce the studies and basic material used as a basis for decision-making around the tax. . . The outsourcing of tax expertise to tax evasion facilitators creates an obvious conflict of interest.
The Commission defended its decision to hire the "big four". Jean-Claude Juncker, its president, has already been criticized for his former role as Luxembourg Prime Minister during the period when his government accepted hundreds of tax treaties with multinationals.
The commission said: "We are surprised that this is even a story.The commission regularly asks for research from consultants all over the world.There are four companies out of thousands who are conducting studies for us."
Erik Gordon, a professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, added that the views of the "big four" were relevant to political decisions. "Security experts hire hackers because hackers give them useful tips. Doctors have personal interests at stake when health policy is formulated, but you would not want to exclude them from the formulation process, "he said.
"A policy that has been developed without the expertise or the buy-in of stakeholders is often a policy that fails miserably because its substance is bad and its support weak."
Deloitte, KPMG , PwC and EY have advised several individuals and companies cited in the publication Paradise Papers have paid out 13.4 million financial documents from Appleby, the offshore law firm. The companies stated at the time that they were working in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations.
KPMG, PwC and Deloitte did not respond to a request for comment.
EY said: "EY believes that strong, transparent and consistent tax systems are fundamental to the effective functioning of the global economy … We support transparency in transactions with tax administrations to help strengthen trust in the system. "
Source link
