Tax Transparency Report

Resolution Text

RESOLVED: Shareholders request that the Board of Directors issue a tax transparency report to shareholders, at reasonable expense and excluding confidential information, prepared in consideration of the indicators and guidelines set forth in the Global Reporting Initiative’s (GRI) Tax Standard.

Supporting Statement

The GRI Standards are the world’s most utilized corporate reporting standard.1 The GRI Tax Standard – GRI 207 – is the first comprehensive, global standard for public tax disclosure. It includes four components. GRI 207-1, 207-2, and 207-3 require companies to disclose their approach to tax; their tax governance, control, and risk management; and their stakeholder engagement and management of concerns related to tax, respectively. 207-4 requires public country-by-country reporting (CbCR) of certain company financial information, including revenues, profits and losses, and tax payments within each jurisdiction.2 GRI 207 also recommends disclosing “industry-related and other taxes or payments to governments.” Given the significance of other project-specific payments to governments in the oil and gas sector, GRI identifies disclosures of all significant project-level payments to governments as relevant for that sector in reporting under the Tax Standard.3

Tax transparency is increasingly important to investors. The PRI, representing investors with $89 trillion assets under management, states that tax avoidance is a key driver of inequality.4 Economic challenges have increased government concern about corporate tax avoidance, and 96% of US companies expect more tax disputes as governments become more rigorous in tax examinations.5

In October 2021, 136 countries agreed to a global tax reform framework.6 National and regional-level agreements also demonstrate growing consensus around the importance of tax disclosures: the proposed Disclosure of Tax Havens and Offshoring Act, passed by the House of Representatives in 2021, would require public CbCR of financial (including tax) data by SEC-registered companies.7 In November 2021, the European Union approved a directive to implement public CbCR for large multinationals operating there.8

Chevron does not disclose revenues or profits in non-US markets, nor foreign tax payments, with adequately disaggregated data, challenging investors’ ability to evaluate the risks of taxation reforms, or whether Chevron’s tax practices ensure long term value creation. Tax authorities across the globe have repeatedly challenged Chevron’s taxation approach, producing significant costs for the company.9 For example, in 2017, an Australian court found that Chevron used offshore entities to underpay taxes and ordered Chevron to pay $268 million.10

A GRI-compliant tax transparency report would bring Chevron in line with peer companies – including many in the oil, gas, and mining industries11 – who report using GRI 207.12 Chevron already reports CbCR information to OECD tax authorities privately, so any increased burden is negligible.

1 https://assets.kpmg/content/dam/kpmg/xx/pdf/2020/11/the-time-has-come.pdf
2 https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/media/2482/gri-207-tax-2019.pdf
3 https://www.globalreporting.org/standards/standards-development/sector-standard-for-oil-and-gas/
4 https://www.globalreporting.org/about-gri/news-center/backing-for-gri-s-tax-standard/
5 https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/global/Documents/Tax/gx-beps-global-survey-summary- results-2022.pdf
6 https://www.oecd.org/tax/international-community-strikes-a-ground-breaking-tax-deal-for-the-digital-age.htm 7 https://www.congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-bill/3007;
8 https://www.internationaltaxreview.com/article/b1vf7yc65qpzcd/this-week-in-tax-eu-on-track-for-public-cbcr- by-2023
9 https://www.reuters.com/article/us-nigeria-oil-debt-exclusive/exclusive-nigeria-hits-oil-majors-with-billions- in-back-taxes-idUSKCN1QA1EK; https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-philippines-shell-court/shell-philippines- says-will-exhaustively-challenge-53-14-billion-peso-tax-claim-idUKKBN0U117020151218; https://www.oecdguidelines.nl/latest/news/2022/03/24/fs-fnv-vs-chevron; https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704682604575368801121741036
10 https://www.reuters.com/article/australia-chevron-taxavoidance/chevron-drops-appeal-over-landmark- australian-tax-ruling-idUSL4N1L41TK
11 https://www.hess.com/sustainability/how-we-operate/tax-practices; https://reports.shell.com/tax-contribution- report/2020/our-tax-data.html; https://s24.q4cdn.com/382246808/files/doc_downloads/2022/sustainability/newmont-2021-tax-report.pdf; https://www.bp.com/en/global/corporate/sustainability/our-approach-to-sustainability/tax-transparency.html; https://reports.shell.com/tax-contribution-report/2020/; https://www.eni.com/assets/documents/eng/reports/2020/Country-by-Country-2020_ENG.pdf; https://totalenergies.com/sites/g/files/nytnzq121/files/documents/2022- 03/Tax_transparency_report_2019_2020.pdf
12 https://www.globalreporting.org/news/news-center/momentum-gathering-behind-public-country-by-country- tax-reporting/