EY's global vice chairman of tax Jay Nibbe is in town for the Lions Tour and took some time out to talk about global changes in the sector.
"The biggest change is really the sharing of information amongst the tax authorities," he said. "So they can get a clear footprint of a global entity or company."
The base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) initiative is an OECD agreement that targets tax avoidance strategies that used by multinational companies to exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules and artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations.
More than 100 countries and jurisdictions are collaborating to implement the BEPS measures and tackle BEPS.
"The BEPS initiative said: we really need to modernise the tax system," Nibbe said. "It is still early days, most countries have started to implement some of the recommendations.
"But its going to take some time to see if the system has the taxation system moved in a way that gets the appropriate amount of tax paid while still maintaining the principle of avoiding double taxation."
Business disruption was happening at a such a rapid pace that tax regulators were struggling to keep up, Nibbe said.
The distribution businesses were being disrupted by drones and 3D printing was enabling businesses to create and produce goods in a one country with software from another country.
A taxation system based on goods being assessed as they come through the border could suddenly be out of date as the product doesn't actually cross a border, he said.
London-based Nibbe leads more than 38,000 people in EY's tax practice and is responsible for all aspects of tax strategy and operations.