[Title will be auto-generated]

eCIAT

Newsletter

ISSN 1684-9833 • Year 5 / No.15 /August 30, 2013

Information

The Executive Secretariat Informs FAAS Meeting The CIAT Executive Council’s Financial Affairs Advisory Committee met at the Executive Secretariat headquarters on August 21-23.

The Executive Secretariat Informs FAAS Meeting CIAT Mission visit to tax authorities of Nicaragua Former CIAT correspondent ends a long professional career: Alfredo Echeverria Herrera from the SII of Chile The Tax Administrations Inform Canada - Minister Findlay highlights the Harper Government’s support for Canadian taxpayers Colombia - Bilateral Cooperation between Mexico and Colombia Costa Rica – Taxation Directorate recovers approximately 20 billion in the first seven months of 2013 The General Directorate of Taxation (DGT) has recovered over ¢19.844 million so far this year, through the implementation of such control plans Mexico - Higher collection, taxpayers base and efficiency of the SAT Paraguay - New Deputy Minister of the State Undersecretariat of Taxation (SET) United States of America – IRS Opens Online FATCA Registration System IBFD News Training Post of the Month New on Web Other Documents Other Documents of interest

The working agenda included the review of recommendations made in the previous report, review of the budgetary execution of the 2012-2013 fiscal period and the analysis of the Financial Statements through June 30, 2013, which were recently audited by an independent auditing firm.

The Subcommittee members are Irene Carrizo, from the National Revenue Authority (ANIP) of Panama; Juan María Conte, from the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) of Argentina; Marcos Da Cunha, from the Secretariat of Federal Revenues of Brazil and Luis Antonio Velasco, from the Internal Revenue Service (SRI) of Ecuador.

The Subcommittee’s report will be submitted by the Executive Secretariat to the Executive Council at the meeting to be held in Nairobi, Kenya on Sunday, September 8, prior to the inauguration of the CIAT Technical Conference.

Newsletter

eCIAT

Join

CIAT Mission visit to tax authorities of Nicaragua A CIAT delegation visited the General Directorate of Revenue - DGI of Nicaragua on August 15 and 16, and met with top executives of this administration.

We invite you to CIATalks, the space provided by CIAT. Read the posts, give your opinion and actively participate

Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary; Maria Raquel Ayala, Director of Training and development of Human Talent, Raul Zambrano, Director of Technical Assistance and ICT, and Gonzalo Arias, Director of International Taxation and Cooperation integrated the delegation. Each of them gave a presentation to the DGI officials, which included the following topics: Tax Management Support Systems, the Use of Technology, the importance of human talent in the working process, Invoices control and Electronic invoicing , Information from third parties, and Tax risk analysis among others.

Mr. Martin Rivas Ruiz, General Director of Revenue welcomed the CIAT mission visit, since currently Reconciliation and National Unity Government is looking, through the GGI, for new mechanisms and strategies to help fight poverty, and for this it is necessary to improve the fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance.

CIAT is a public international organization which groups the tax administrations of 39 countries, (31 Amarican countries, 5 European countries, 2 African countries and 1 Asian country), for the purpose of providing an integral service for the modernization of those administrations, by promoting their evolution, social acceptance and consolidation through the exchange of knowledge, experiences and the rendering of specialized technical assistance.

Executive Council Executive Secretariat The e-CIAT Newsletter is published and distributed electronically biweekly.

Register

Contact us: CIAT Executive Secretariat / e-CIAT Newsletter P.O. Box 0834-02129 Panama, Republic of Panama.

Phone (507) 265-2766 / 265-5994 Fax: (507) 264-4926 E mail:ciat@ciat.org Web Site: http://www.ciat.org

Mr. Martin Rivas Ruiz, General Director of Revenue welcomed to the visitants

Former CIAT correspondent ends a long professional career: Alfredo Echeverria Herrera from the SII of Chile After 49 years of career in the Internal Revenue Service of Chile (SII), Alfredo Echeverria Herrera ends his long professional career.

Don Alfredo was closely related to the InterAmerican Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), which he was correspondent for twenty three years.

In recognition for his 20 years of outstanding professional performance as CIAT correspondent, he received in 2004 a “Certificate of Excellence”.

This distinction was given at the Ninth Biennial Meeting of Correspondents, held at the CIAT Executive Secretariat, for his invaluable contributions and spirit of compromise as CIAT correspondent, as reference of our organization’s correspondents network.

eCIAT

Newsletter

CIAT correspondents are senior officials named by the Tax Director of each member country, whose mission is to be the permanent link between their respective tax administration and the organization in order to support the various activities developed in benefit of the CIAT member countries tax administrations.

SII Career The distinguished CIAT correspondent joined the SII on March1, 1964. During his long career in the Chilean tax administration he held various positions as Internal Control Sub- Director, Assistant Director of Studies and Legal Sub-director. In addition, he served as SII National Director First Deputy.

Among the most important moments in his career was on January 18, 2002 when the Internal Revenue Service of Chile celebrated its first centenary, in a solemn ceremony attended by the President of the Republic and numerous authorities. At the time, he was in charge of the institution as Acting Director. “This was an honor and an unforgettable experience that I remember as a very special moment of my career” said Alfredo at the time.

Regarding his work at CIAT, Alfredo says, “It was an honor to represent the SII in such prestigious organization and I appreciate the distinctions they have granted me as a correspondent”.

Alfredo gives us the following message: “A career in the tax administration is a way of life and I would tell officials that they should perform it with love for the institution, with values, fairness and the honesty required by this function”.

The Tax Administrations Inform Canada - Minister Findlay highlights the Harper Government’s support for Canadian taxpayers This new right reflects the Government’s commitment to taxpayer fairness and to further strengthen public confidence in the tax administration.

The Honourable Kerry-Lynne D. Findlay, P.C., Q.C., M.P., Minister of National Revenue, and Mr. J. Paul Dubé, Taxpayers’ Ombudsman, met with members of the local business community in Edmonton to discuss the Government of Canada’s commitment to supporting the rights of Canadian taxpayers.

In June 2013, the Harper Government announced the addition of a new right to the Taxpayer Bill of Rights. Under the new right, if taxpayers lodge a service complaint or request a formal review, they can be confident that they will be treated impartially, receive the benefits, credits, and refunds to which they are entitled and pay no more and no less than what is required by law.

Maria Pica Correspondent

Newsletter

eCIAT

Colombia - Bilateral Cooperation between Mexico and Colombia .

In order to strengthen foreign trade information exchange for detecting, dissuading and combating commercial fraud practices, the General Tax and Customs Directors of Mexico and Colombia agreed to implement a bilateral Cooperation Plan.

The agreement between the two countries was ratified last August 7, at a meeting of the Tax and Customs Director of the Tax Administration Service (SAT) of Mexico, Aristóteles Núñez Sánchez and the DIAN Director, Juan Ricardo Ortega López.

Patricia Parada Castro Correspondent

Costa Rica – Taxation Directorate recovers approximately 20 billion in the first seven months of 2013 The General Directorate of Taxation (DGT) has recovered over ¢19.844 million so far this year, through the implementation of such control plans as priority management of large taxpayers, final administrative assessments, periodic specific collection plans such as 2012 income tax, as well as integral ones that include all taxes owed by the taxpayers.

Maribel Zúñiga Cambronero Correspondent

Mexico - Higher collection, taxpayers base and efficiency of the SAT As part of the commitment to transparency and accountability, the Tax Administration Service (SAT) published its Tax and management report for the second quarter of 2013, which allows citizens to know and evaluate with objectivity the collection and the Federal Government control activities.

The report includes three sections: tax report, management report and SAT strategic report.

Adrian Guarneros Correspondent

eCIAT

Newsletter

Paraguay - New Vice-minister of the State Undersecretariat of Taxation (SET) In a ceremony headed by the Minister of Finance, Germán Rojas, Ms. Marta González Ayala took over on August 17 as new Vice-minister of the State Undersecretariat of Taxation (SET), thereby replacing Javier Contreras Saguier.

The ceremony was held in the main room of the Collection and Support Directorate, with the participation of directors, coordinators, heads of departments and officials of the Tax Administration.

The new Vice-minister has a PhD degree in Accounting Sciences with a postgraduate degree in Computerized Financial Auditing, in addition to being a founding member of Auditores, Contadores y Consultores (AUDICON).

She is also a university professor at the National University of Asuncion and other private educational institutions and has also held different positions in several local and foreign institutions. Likewise, she is the author of several books and has received mentions for her achievements at the national and international level.

Elizabeth Fernández de Corrales Correspondent

United States of America – IRS Opens Online FATCA Registration System The Internal Revenue Service today announced the opening of a new online registration system for financial institutions that need to register with the IRS under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).

Financial institutions that must register with the IRS to meet their FATCA obligations can now begin the process of registering by creating an account and providing required information. Financial institutions will also be able to provide required information for their branches of operation and other members of their expanded affiliate groups in which the financial institution is the lead organization.

Raúl Pertierra Correspondent

IBFD News International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) Cooperation-CIAT - IBFD

This section includes a selection of the IBFD news about aspects of tax policies and tax administration. This information is available on the CIAT website and in Fridays Tax News alert.

Newsletter

eCIAT

Training Announcement of Course Given the importance we attribute to continued training in order that tax professionals may be fully updated on tax administration, customs and human resources issues we are announcing the following course: •

Tax Audit Fundamentals, 3rd Edition

To Know more about them you must click here if you are interested in participating, please fill out the registration form. registration form.

Post of the Month Wednesday, 28 August 2013 Let it be known Written by: Raul Zambrano

The previous post, about musical tax collection, focused on the effect of beating the drums, i.e. informing about the Administration’s actions. It is no secret that one of the elements to increase the taxpayers’ risk perception is to let everyone know about their noncompliance.

New on Web XXIV Essay Contest CIAT/AEAT/IEF

Winner. 2nd. place Comparative Study on Access to Bank Information for Tax purposes in Latin America and the Caribbean Colombia 2013 The laws of Latin America and the Caribbean countries have regulated the access to the financial information through Decrees and Laws that in some cases make banks deliver certain information periodically and in others cases only upon specific request, and make the tax administration to keep the secrecy (Available in spanish).

eCIAT

Newsletter

Other Documents Bibliographic News August , 2013

This document provides for reference purposes, the most recent documents produced by CIAT and other editorials in the month of August; either articles or other periodic publications, research works and studies of interest.

Other Documents of interest Taxation and Economic Growth in Latin America

Canavire-Bacarreza, Gustavo; Martínez-Vázquez, Jorge; Vulovic, Violeta Inter-American Development Bank August 2013 Tax policy is among the most common and relevant instruments in the toolkit of policy-makers when thinking about promoting growth, yet there is not compelling evidence regarding its effect in Latin American countries.

Using a variety of approaches, we estimate the effects on growth of the most important taxes for the region, namely personal income tax, corporate income tax, general taxes on goods and services, including value added and other sales taxes, and revenues from natural resource.

Gaceta Fiscal Centroamericana Central American Tax Gazette ICEFI July, 2013 Year 1, No. 6

In this edition of the Gazette, the Central American tax Observatory, makes an analysis on corruption and that fighting it will require strengthening and modernizing the institutional framework, from the public and transparent financing to the political parties, the Elimination of banking secrecy, the modernization of the State’s purchase and contract laws and the budget´s organic laws, the strengthening of local Comptrollers and the justice system, to the promotion of institutional opportunities where the civil society organizations may evaluate the Government and the private sector, to the extent in which their actions affect the public interest (Available in spanish).

Los Sistemas Tributarios en América Latina.

Desafíos para la Imposición sobre la renta

Tax systems in Latin America. Challenges for Income tax María Victoria Espada Group on Fiscal policy and Development Center for Labor and Agriculture Development Studies (CEDLA) The economies of the countries in the region were characterized during the recent years by a strong growth, which in 2009 was clouded by the effects of the global crisis. This growth generated an unusual behavior of fiscal, trade and payment balances (Available in spanish).