Google-Style Tax Dodging Targeted as OECD Drafts Battle Plan

The tax-avoidance strategies that companies like Google Inc., Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. use to escape more than $100 billion a year of levies in the U.S. and Europe are under threat from a plan drawn up by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.

The Paris-based OECD, a research institute funded by 34 countries including the U.S., recommended governments limit the techniques those companies use to avoid taxes, such as assigning valuable patent rights to shell companies based in tax havens, according to draft rules released today. All of the OECD member countries and 10 others, including China and Russia, have approved the recommendations, though further action by countries would be required for them to take effect.