Tax Commissioners unite to fight tax fraud

The Forum on Tax Administration - Tax Commissioners from 45 countries - has been meeting in Moscow for the past two days. And released this comuniqué.

Tax administration: OECD publishes new comparative information on OECD and other advanced and emerging economies

This fifth edition describes institutional setups, organisational arrangements and reforms, aspects of strategic management and human resource management, resources for tax administration, important areas of operational performance, the use of technology, and elements of the legislative and administrative framework for tax administration across the 52 economies covered by the series.

OECD’s Global Forum on Transfer Pricing releases a Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment

The Steering Committee of the OECD Global Forum on Transfer Pricing publishes a Draft Handbook on Transfer Pricing Risk Assessment. This Handbook is intended to provide practical guidance to tax administrations in both OECD and non-OECD economies regarding the process of conducting transfer pricing risk assessments. Interested parties are invited to provide comments by 13 September 2013.

OECD reports new developments in tax information exchange

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria has presented a report to G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors that highlights measures to ensure that all taxpayers pay their fair share.

Global Forum on tax transparency shifts focus to effectiveness of information exchange

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (referred to as "the Global Forum"), has released its peer review reports for Belize, Finland, Iceland, Nauru, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and Turkey.

What the BEPS are we talking about?

“Recently more and more enterprises organised abroad by American firms have arranged their corporate structures aided by artificial arrangements between parent and subsidiary regarding intercompany pricing, the transfer of patent licensing rights, the shifting of management fees, and similar practices[...] in order to reduce sharply or eliminate completely their tax liabilities both at home and abroad.”

Costa Rica strengthens tax transparency

Rica has deposited its instrument of ratification of the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the most comprehensive multilateral agreement available for tax-cooperation and exchange of information.

Also Available

• Costa Rica refuerza la transparencia fiscal

OECD Releases 2011 Mutual Agreement Procedure Statistics

The OECD has released statistics on the MAP caseloads of OECD member countries and certain Partner economies for the 2011 reporting period.

Also Available

• Dispute Resolution: OECD Releases 2010 Country Statistics on Mutual Agreement Procedure

Hedging through the tax charge: a threat to tax revenue

Aggressive tax planning (ATP) schemes based on after-tax hedging pose a threat to countries’ revenue base. Empirical evidence suggests that hundreds of millions of USD are at stake, with a number of multi-billion transactions identified by countries.

Aggressive Tax Planning based on After-Tax Hedging

While after-tax hedging is not, of itself, aggressive - being generally a straightforward risk management technique - the report recognises that it can also be used as a feature of aggressive tax planning (ATP) schemes. ATP schemes based on after-tax hedging pose a threat to countries’ revenue base.