Innovation Boxes: BEPS and Beyond

Over the last 15 years, 16 countries have adopted intellectual property (IP) or patent box regimes, including three G7 countries. This paper explains the IP box concept, outlines recent U.S. IP box proposals with a focus on the Boustany-Neal discussion draft, and explains changes adopted in 2015 to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) standards for determining whether IP boxes should be treated as harmful preferential tax regimes. The paper then evaluates various rationales for enacting an OECD-compliant IP box.