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Considerations about Brazil's Accession to the OECD
It is noteworthy that as of 2007, Brazil has stood out as one of the most engaged countries in the commissions and discussions hosted by the Organization, especially regarding issues related to the implementation of pillars one and two, the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting(BEPS) measures. Brazil has been one of the countries most interested in promoting changes in the global tax scenario.
As a general rule, the bond between the countries and the OECD is subject to a formal invitation from the Organization and the consequent fulfillment, by the invited countries, of a series of guidelines, internal alignments in political, economic, and social topics, legislative adjustments, adaptation to tax standards, etc. Therefore, to become a formal member of the OECD, the country must meet several internal policies and guidelines.
Brazil received a formal invitation to join the OECD on January 25th, 2022 and began adapting to the standards and conditions set out in the accession roadmap released by the OECD on June 10th, 2022. Despite the numerous requirements, Brazil was already aligned with most of them, presenting advanced convergence with the Organization. By the time of the formal invitation in January of this year, it had adhered to 103 of its 251 normative instruments.
It is worth mentioning that, among the requirements for accession, there are binding and non-binding impositions. The non-binding ones do not prevent the country from joining the Organization but aim to harmonize the countries' policies in the accession process with the OECD standards, facilitating the integration of countries.
From a fiscal and tax point of view, the main requirements are linked to the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, which is one of the agendas to be followed by the countries in the accession process. In summary, the aspects that draw the most attention are linked to the objectives of:
- Aligning transfer pricing (TP) to the international model;
- Reducing or eliminating international double taxation;
- Promoting the sharing of tax information and combating tax crimes.