Private equity off OECD radar
The taxation of private equity funds appears to have slipped off the agenda of the OECD’s review of the risks to global tax revenues
A working group examining the issue is looking at large public businesses and
high net worth individuals, but there is no mention of buy-out firms.
The OECD commissioned the review following the Seoul Declaration, a strongly
worded statement from OECD member countries on the risks to tax revenues.
The declaration raised concerns about ‘the increased flows of capital into
private equity funds and the potential issues this may raise for revenue
bodies’, but working papers on the scope of the post-declaration review have not
mentioned private equity taxation at all.
The private equity industry has faced an onslaught from critics who claim its
tax operations are shady and allow it to dodge tax.