Strategizing International Tax Best Practices – by Keith Brockman

Posts tagged ‘United Nations’

BEPS update-MLI’s, UN, ATAF…

EY’s Global Tax Alert highlights the recent BEPS developments, including the country-specific Multilateral Instruments (MLIs) with varying changes to its covered treaties and other treaty provisions.

It is noteworthy, at these MLIs approach legislation targets, that it is no longer intuitive as to how a country’s treaty provisions interact with other treaty partners, apart from general guiding principles that will vary as to the relevant details therein.

UN developments; In June 2019, the Report on the Eighteenth Session of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (Committee), which was held by the United Nations (UN) on 23-26 April 2019 in New York, was released. The report describes a number of substantive issues related to tax cooperation in tax matters that were discussed during the session. Among others, the session addressed: (i) the next update of the UN Model Double Taxation Convention between developed and developing countries; (ii) the update of the UN Transfer Pricing (TP) Manual; (iii) dispute avoidance and resolution; and (iv) tax consequences of the digitalized economy.

African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF): In June 2019, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) issued a paper on “The Place Of Africa In The Shift Towards Global Tax Governance: Can the taxation of the digitalised economy be an opportunity for more inclusiveness?” (the paper). The paper provides an overview of the current international tax governance landscape and inroads towards inclusiveness.

Country updates: Austria, Russia, Bulgaria, Canada, Finland, Guernsey, India, Ireland, Netherlands, Switzerland, Israel, China, Italy, Myanmar, New Zealand, Panama, Slovak Republic, Spain, Sweden, and Zimbabwe.

Click to access 2019G_003051-19Gbl_The%20Latest%20on%20BEPS%20-%2028%20June%202019.pdf

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OECD, OECD / UN

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UN: TP Manual for Developing Countries

The UN has published the second edition (First edition in 2013) of a transfer pricing manual for developing countries.

The world has changed considerably since 2013, notably affected by BEPS and the OECD’s  actions, including collaborating with developing countries.  However, the UN notes developing countries may not have the sophistication as other developed countries, and this manual provides valuable insight into the trends in this area.

The transfer pricing practices of Mexico, China and Brazil are also summarized in this edition.

The TP Manual is a “must read” for international tax practitioners to fully understand today’s complex dynamics that do not lead to global consistency or simplification.

Click to access UN-2017-Manual-TP.pdf

 

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OECD / UN

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Corruption assessment: a component of Global (Tax) Risk Framework

The Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ...

The Eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of UN. Target date: 2015 http://www.un.org/millenniumgoals/ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today’s tax environment of increased transparency highlights the need to integrate an assessment of corruption into the Global Risk Assessment, including the Tax Risk Framework.  Proper governance includes monitoring perceptions, and actual cases, of corruption globally.  Brief summaries, with links, have been provided for Transparency International and the Global Portal on Anti-Corruption for Development, with additional references and recent articles, for reference.  The Corruption Perceptions Index by Transparency International is included in the first link.

Today the Transparency International movement includes more than 100 independent national chapters and partners around the world, which take action in support of our mission “to stop corruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels and across all sectors of society”.

http://issuu.com/transparencyinternational/docs/cpi_2012_report/1?e=2496456/2010281

Transparency International calls on the United Nations to adopt a governance goal and governance targets for its post 2015 development priorities

http://www.transparency.org/news/pressrelease/transparency_international_calls_on_the_un_to_make_governance_a_priority_fo

The Global Portal on Anti-Corruption for Development is a one-stop-shop for information and knowledge specialized on anti-corruption for sustainable development. It aims to support the work of development/governance practitioners, anti-corruption bodies, researchers, civil society organizations and the donor community by facilitating easy access to information, cutting-edge knowledge and practical tools on anti-corruption at the global, regional and country level.

The Anti-Corruption for Development web portal is a unique and pioneering UN web platform that provides open access to information and knowledge related to the latest efforts to address corruption prevention against today’s development challenges: human rights, gender equality and empowerment, climate change and natural resource management, achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and Post-2015 Development Agenda, illicit financial flows and transitional contexts, among others.

http://www.anti-corruption.org/index.php/en/about

The Conference of Nigerian Political Parties (CNPP) has asked the Coordinating Minister for the Economy and Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to resign forthwith for misleading President Goodluck Jonathan on the damaging level of corruption in the country.

CNPP’s demand came as an aftermath of President Jonathan’s remarks in which he referred to a World Bank report from the minister placing corruption as third in the ranking of problems confronting the country.

http://allafrica.com/stories/201310010283.html

Related articles

Industry’s leading third party management software provider advises oil and gas companies to fundamentally re-think supply chain compliance.

With the realization that corruption is undermining development and the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), experts are lobbying the UN to adopt goals and targets on good governance and transparency in the post-2015 development agenda.

A high-level anti-corruption panel, co-chaired by UNDP, Transparency International and UNODC, gathered at the UN in New York in late September to highlight the impact of corruption on development and find ways to ensure that anti-corruption is part of the new global development agenda.

Is internal corruption slowing progress in developing countries?

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OECD / UN, Tax Risk Management

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OECD: Tax Inspectors Without Borders 2013 initiative

Click to access Tax-Dev_3_CoChair_Statement.pdf

The OECD’s Task Force on Tax and Development will use this concept to assist developing countries by providing international auditing expertise and advice to better address tax base erosion, including tax evasion and avoidance.  This initiative  is led by the Commissioner General of the South Africa Revenue Service, South Africa’s Deputy Finance Minister and Director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.

The Tax Inspectors Without Borders program will match demand from countries requesting international tax audit assistance with a supply of international experts, primarily consisting of tax inspectors in other tax administrations.  Accordingly, the experts will now be made available to developing countries.

The initiative is being launched this year, thus communication with the auditors in developing countries should include a discussion on the use of this concept, a listing of the respective experts and the communications that could be shared with the corporation.

It will be interesting to see the development of this initiative, the sharing of information, memorandums of understanding with the corporation or, absent an explicit statement that the country is using this initiative, any impact on the appeal process resulting from assessments of this sharing program.  Additionally, it would be interesting to compare the developing countries that use this program versus, or along with, tax training from the United Nations, posted in the blog dated 2 June 2013.

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OECD / UN, Tax Risk Management

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