Publications

Below is a collection of PWYP Norway’s publications, sorted by publication month. We welcome you to download our publications and background material, of course without any cost, but please quote us explicitly if you use any of our material in your work (”Title/PWYP Norway/http://www.publishwhatyoupay.no/publications”). The contributing illustrators and photographers have copyright to their material.

The last leg - will the regulator save the industry from chaos?

PWYP Norway has analyzed the accounts of Equinor from 2014 to 2018. Our findings show that Equinor could easily have reported on extended country-by-country reporting requirements on one extra page. It shows how little it takes before extended country-by-country reporting is in place.

Read our analysis of Equinor´s accounts from 2014 to 2018 here (Norwegian page)

Publication date:

Stop Capital Flight and Promote Equal Competition through Transparency and Taxation

  • Three simple tax mechanisms are the only ones needed in order to equate the taxation of multinational companies with national companies
  • Any country can enact these mechanisms as they are changes to the internal tax code
  • The three mechanisms are precise as they target specific classes of transactions and are not based on parameters or estimates.
  • The mechanisms are unique in that no country enacting them will trespass on any other country’s tax base

Publication date:

Guide to extended country-by-country reporting (ECBCR) for businesses

  • Extended Country-by-Country Reporting (ECBCR) is a measure to equate all businesses and ensure that key figures are reported for each country in which the company is present. 
  • The basis for the reporting must be the financial accounts - no other option for reporting provide trustworthy information to stakeholders and the wider society. 
  • To make sense, the information must be reported as it is included in the consolidated financial statements - before elimination. Eliminations must therefore be reported separately.

Publication date:

Stop Capital Flight and Promote Equal Competition through Transparency and Taxation

  • Three simple tax mechanisms are the only ones needed in order to equate the taxation of multinational companies with national companies
  • Any country can enact these mechanisms as they are changes to the internal tax code
  • The three mechanisms are precise as they target specific classes of transactions and are not based on parameters or estimates.
  • The mechanisms are unique in that no country enacting them will trespass on any other country’s tax base

Publication date:

The weaknesses are clearly showing ...but the regulator is sleeping

  • It is very positive that Statoil reports country-by-country information together with its annual accounts, and the legislator should ensure that this become standard.
  • Statoil still does not report eliminations separately, but here it is the legislator that needs to change the regulation to get a meaningful reporting.
  • It is still not possible, due to lack of information, to use the formula 1.1. Tax + Payable Tax – 31.12. Tax to reconcile tax in the accounts against taxes paid.

Publication date:

THE ROLLER-COASTER MECHANISM IN THE WORLD ECONOMY. Mark-to-Market and transactions outside the market

  • Marking-to-market is a concept which has started to invade a significant portion of both accounting and cross-border contracts. As a concept it is good, as it makes accounts more informative, but it also introduces problems.
  • One of the problems is that it accelerates losses when markets collapses, and therefore constitute a risk of being one of the elements that make companies go bankrupt in a crisis. This can be avoided by changing the accounting guidelines for mark-to-market accounting.
  • Another problem is that mark-to-market contracts, where the asset sits in another country, most often in a tax haven, creates the perfect opportunity for companies to transfer untaxed funds to tax havens, reducing taxes in the country where the company resides.

Publication date:

Taking Away the Tax Effect of Tax Havens. Cross border taxation methods and REVERSE TAX CREDIT

  • All the main techniques used for capital fiight can be grouped into one area – abuse of cross-border regulation. 
  • Tax credit is already an approved method for dealing with revenues cross-border together with withholding taxes.
  • Reverse Tax Credit can use the tax credit principles to deal with costs cross-border and eliminate the “need” for tax havens.
  • Reverse Tax Credit can be enacted unilaterally by any country, and will automatically leverage the playing fields between companies, large or small, multinational or not.  

  • What is Reverse Tax Credit method?

    Reverse Tax Credit method is a universal method that can be used unilaterally by any country, but which will benefit the world better the more countries that implement it.

    Publication date:

Taking Away the Tax Effect of Tax Havens. Cross border taxation methods and REVERSE TAX CREDIT

  • All the main techniques used for capital fiight can be grouped into one area – abuse of cross-border regulation. 
  • Tax credit is already an approved method for dealing with revenues cross-border together with withholding taxes.
  • Reverse Tax Credit can use the tax credit principles to deal with costs cross-border and eliminate the “need” for tax havens. 
  • Reverse Tax Credit can be enacted unilaterally by any country, and will automatically leverage the playing fields between companies, large or small, multinational or not.  

 

  • What is Reverse Tax Credit method?

    • Reverse Tax Credit method is a universal method that can be used unilaterally by any country, but which will benefit the world better the more countries that implement it.

Publication date:

The war against Ecuadorian press

  • A political system formed to dominate non-government-favored media
  • Secrecy around the process to select key people in institutions with influence in the formation and application of media laws
  • An aggressive propaganda strategy designed to silence any critical voice

Publication date:

What Statoil reported and what Statoil should have reported

Summary

  • Statoil reported on the minimum transparency requirement, called country-by-country reporting, on a half page in its sustainability report for 2014.
  • PWYP Norway shows that Statoil could have easily reported on
 a meaningful transparency requirement, called an extended country-by-country reporting, on that half page.
  • When companies can show their country-by-country presence on a half page, why will politicians not demand it from them? 

Publication date: