(Adds Lew and Schaeuble comments)
By Paul Carrel
LIMA, Oct 8 (Reuters) - German Finance Minister WolfgangSchaeuble said on Thursday he would propose a monitoring schemeto ensure the full implementation of a proposed system tooverhaul the way international companies are taxed.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD) published proposals on Monday to change outdated taxrules that allow multinational companies such as Apple Inc and Vodafone Group Plc to pay almost no tax ontheir profits in many jurisdictions.
The companies say they follow the current rules.
The OECD made the proposals at the request of the Group of20 leading economies, which will review the plans for closingthe gaps in international tax rules at a dinner meeting in Perulate on Thursday.
"Now it is important not just that we adopt this today ...but that it is also really implemented," Schaeuble toldreporters in Lima ahead of the G20 meeting.
"That means, I will call for us to agree on a monitoring(system) so that what is agreed is implemented. Otherwise it isjust on paper," he said.
The OECD's proposals on tackling so-called Base Erosion andProfit Shifting (BEPS) aim to shake up rules dating back almosta century that govern taxation of profits from internationalcommerce.
G20 governments are expected to approve them at a summit inNovember, though the plan will not be legally binding.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the BEPS initiativecould help avoid a race to the bottom in economic policymaking.
"What we can't do, and the initiative that's being announcedhere is a way to show that we won't, is that we can't get into abeggar-thy-neighbor kind of economic policymaking," Lew said.
"There's an important step being taken here in announcingthe consensus being reached on base erosion and I hope it'sindicative of the political will to do some of the positivethings that are described as well," he said.
For Germany, Schaeuble did not rule out the introduction oftax breaks for companies on revenue generated from patented orlicensed research.
The government has repeatedly said it would considerintroducing so-called patent boxes if there were no progresstoward fair tax competition at a global level.
"That could be a way with tax means to promote research workin Germany," Schaeuble said of patent boxes. "Many people arecalling for this and there are many good arguments to do it. Butwe will discuss it calmly."
Unveiling its tax recommendations on Monday, the OECD saidthey represented a fundamental shift, though critics said theydid not go far enough.
The OECD said a conservative estimate of the amount ofuntaxed money moved by companies into tax havens was $100billion to $240 billion annually, suggesting tens of billions ofdollars in lost tax revenue.
Tax advisers agreed that the measures - which had beendebated over the past year - could force many companies torestructure their operations and rethink how they fundthemselves.
(Additional reporting by Krista Hughes; Editing by LisaShumaker and Leslie Adler)
Vodafone (VOD)
