Preface
The development of the sharing and gig economy, facilitated by online platforms, can have a positive impact on our economies. It provides new opportunities to share assets, increase efficiency, lower prices and offers better services and more choice for both suppliers and consumers.
From the perspective of tax administrations it also raises a number of challenges and opportunities: on the one hand certain new activities may not always be visible to tax administrations or self-reported by taxpayers; on the other hand, technological developments can lead to greater transparency and support simplification of tax obligations if leveraged in the right way. The benefits of this approach is that activities are brought back into the tax system with minimum burden on taxpayers and administrations alike.
The report demonstrates that the effective taxation of the users of sharing and gig economy platforms is an issue that many tax administrations are grappling with and that, regardless of any action taken domestically, strengthened international cooperation is key to making these measures successful.
There are no simple solutions to this issue and this report sets out a range of areas that the international community could consider taking forward to build on the close engagement that has already taken place. Areas flagged in the report for further consideration are: exploring the need for administrations and platforms to educate taxpayers to build awareness of their obligations; the possible development, in collaboration with platforms, of a voluntary code of conduct to include expectations on taxpayer education; and the exchange of information between tax jurisdictions in a standardized way.
We believe that the report will assist in the development of legislative models for standardized reporting by sharing and gig economy platforms and will provide valuable information and insights to tax administrations and taxpayers, contributing to enhance mutual understanding and trust.
We would like to thank the FTA Bureau and the OECD Secretariat for their support as well as the project team from United Kingdom and Italy for their collaborative work on the preparation of this informative report. Our gratitude also goes to everyone who has been involved in producing the report, in particular the teams in the participating tax administrations that have contributed their time and expertise, FTA countries that responded to the requests for information as well as platforms that provided evidence and insights.
Jim Harra
(HMRC's Deputy Chief Executive)
Paolo Valerio Barbantini
(Agenzia delle entrate – Deputy Director General)