Internet Platform Companies and Base Erosion — Issue and Solution

Abstract

By measuring base erosion only through certain related party outbound payments, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act misses much of the profit shifting that has created the more than $2.6 trillion of overseas untaxed profits. This article shows how the base erosion provisions in the legislation could be easily expanded to make them truly effective and a real disincentive to continued profit shifting.

Keywords: Tax Reform, Profit-Shifting, Effectively Connected Income, ECI, International Taxation

JEL Classification: H21, H25, K34, E62