Companies Urged to Carefully Tailor Message in Public Tax Reports

A new reporting rule in the EU will soon subject tax information provided by multinationals to public scrutiny for the first time—a change that advisors warn should prompt them to more carefully craft their reports to withstand public analysis.

Multinationals in scope of the obligation already prepare such reports to comply with global standards. Under the public requirement, companies “need to not only prepare these disclosures but also articulate their narrative, as tax reporting numbers on their own may not convey the complete context and may easily be taken out of context,” said Mariella Caruana, senior advisor on tax at ...