Global ethics standards on tax planning released

IESBA’s standards, set to take effect in July 2025, are intended to strengthen the ethical framework that guides professional accountants providing tax planning services.

The International Ethics Standards Board for Accountants (IESBA) released a comprehensive suite of global standards on ethical considerations in tax planning and related services.

According to a news release, the standards are intended to provide a global ethical benchmark applicable to tax planning. The standards will be incorporated into the IESBA Code of Ethics. The standards include a new requirement and guidance on due consideration of reputational, commercial, and wider economic consequences in professional accountants’ tax advice.

“Following certification by the Public Interest Oversight Board, the standards establish a clear framework of expected behaviours and ethics provisions for use by all professional accountants,” the release said. “These standards are especially relevant in the context of rising public scrutiny of tax-avoidance schemes which can harm companies’ credibility and corporate reputation, as well as risking litigation and harming the public interest.”

The standards aim to move away from a purely mechanical and legalistic approach to a “principles-based framework”, the release said. Professional accountants and other tax professionals are encouraged to use these standards to “restor[e] public and institutional trust on a topic that is core to the social contract between corporations and the market which supports them”.

“Professional accountants have an important duty to their clients but must not lose sight of their fundamental duty to the public interest …,” IESBA Chair Gabriela Figueiredo Dias said in the release. “These standards provide a robust framework to help professional accountants, as well as all other tax advisers whom we strongly encourage to adopt or use the standards, navigate the ethical decisions in this complex area that are central to trust in the entire system.”

Extensive outreach and public consultation, including three global roundtables involving over 150 senior-level representatives, preceded approval of the standards, the news release said.

The standards become effective 1 July 2025.

— To comment on this article or to suggest an idea for another article, contact Steph Brown at Stephanie.Brown@aicpa-cima.com.

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