The law treats business differently, depending on their size and location. Our standards reflect this.
We have developed three standards (with associated guidance notes) to ascertain and encourage responsible tax conduct:
To obtain the Fair Tax Mark, businesses are assessed against the criteria set out in the appropriate accreditation standard.
There are many reasons to secure the Fair Tax Mark, from standing out in your sector and increasing customer confidence, to reassuring investors and boosting your brand via enhanced CSR and ESG credentials.
Our standards are based on the following principles.
A business should:
We have two standards for UK-only businesses:
Click on the guidance notes for details of the assessment criteria for your business. After you reach out to us, we will assess your business against these and tell you exactly what you’ll need to do (if anything) in order to secure the Fair Tax Mark. We’ll explain what you’re excelling at, and how to improve. Once the necessary thresholds have been met, you’ll be part of the fair tax community!
No matter where in the world your multinational enterprise is based, our Global Multinational Business Standard allows us to accredit you with the Fair Tax Mark. The criteria against which we assess global multinationals focuses on five key areas: beneficial ownership, governance, tax policy, financial and tax reporting, and cash taxes paid.
The Fair Tax Mark Global Multinational Business Standard satisfies the key reporting recommendations of GRI 207, the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct, but carries with it the additional weight of independent third-party verification undertaken by a trusted social enterprise.
Accreditation will also go a long way to demonstrate alignment to the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and associated Minimum Safeguards, which flag ‘taxation’ as a material consideration.
Put simply, to secure a Fair Tax Mark, a business should demonstrate a substantive commitment to responsible tax conduct, financial transparency, public Country-by-Country Reporting (if a multinational) and beneficial ownership disclosure. There must be a binding tax policy that explicitly shuns tax avoidance and the artificial use of tax havens, and no recent evidence of contradicting activities. All subsidiaries and related party transactions should be fully disclosed.
The scoring system underpinning the Fair Tax Mark accreditation standards is predominantly driven by the belief that ‘transparency’ encourages, and helps business demonstrate, responsible tax conduct. It also considers the tax contribution made by a business over a number of years. There are many good reasons why a business may not be paying high tax rates over a given period. For example, it may be loss-making in some years, or claiming legitimate tax reliefs within both the spirit and letter of the law. Such businesses can still secure a Fair Tax Mark by providing additional disclosures – especially in connection with shortfalls from the applicable headline rates of tax in operation.
The Fair Tax Mark standards and criteria have been developed with input from a broad range of stakeholders, including businesses, civil society organisations, tax experts and more.
A Technical Advisory Group, drawn from a range of backgrounds and perspectives, communicates throughout the year and meets on an ad hoc basis.
A public consultation process underpinned the development of our Global Multinational Business Standard.
While our standards and criteria detail the scoring system we use to assess and accredit a business, we also provide a range of templates, papers and good practice examples. These include:
As a not-for-profit social enterprise, we need to charge a fee for our assessment and accreditation services. This allows us to cover our costs and grow the Fair Tax Mark.
Our fees have been benchmarked against comparable ethical accreditation schemes.
Fees for Global Multinational Businesses | Fees for UK-only Businesses
Propelling us into the next phase of our ambitious growth plans for the Fair Tax Mark label We are thrilled to announce that investors, both big and small, have responded passionately to the community share offer we launched in September, ensuring that the future is bright for the Fair Tax Foundation’s ambitious expansion plans and our mission to end the …
Railway infrastructure organisation Network Rail have achieved their first Fair Tax Mark accreditation, demonstrating the company’s commitment to responsible tax conduct. Network Rail own, develop and repair the railway infrastructure in England, Scotland and Wales, which comprises 20 of the largest stations; 20,000 miles of track; 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts; and thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. They …
Fair Tax Leaders features senior professionals from across the Fair Tax Mark accredited business community. Here, Mundys Head of Tax Affairs Giuseppe Natali discusses the importance of data and the increasing interest in responsible tax from investors. Founded in 1950, Mundys have operative companies across the world in the highways, airport infrastructure and mobility services sectors. They were the first Italian multinational …
