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eCIAT ISSN 1684-9833 • Year 6 / No. 13 / August 1, 2014
The Executive Secretariat Informs The Executive Secretariat Informs Officers from Panama visited the SAT of Mexico to learn about best practices in transfer pricing, in the framework of the CIAT - EUROsociAL II Collaboration Program The DGI of Uruguay, together with the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information and the CIAT, promote a regional sharing of experiences on Information Exchange 7th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration The Tax Administrations Inform Argentina - AFIP conducted more than a million inspections Costa Rica - Government strengthens measures to fight illegal trade Chile - SII enables option to start Second Category activities via tablet or smartphone
Officers from Panama visited the SAT of Mexico to learn about best practices in transfer pricing, in the framework of the CIAT - EUROsociAL II Collaboration Program On July 14 to 18, 2014 the Tax Administration Service (SAT) of Mexico was visited by two officials of the National Revenue Authority of Panama (ANIP) to learn about the wide experience on transfer pricing acquired by SAT over the years. The main objective of the visit was to learn how SAT carries out the transfer pricing control process, as well as their experience and best practices in the case selection, planning and execution of audits. In that sense, among the main topics discussed were case detection in audit transfer pricing; legal framework for the transfer pricing audit process; review and importance of functional analysis; comparable evaluation; and use of public and private financial databases. The exchange visit was prepared as a result of the requests presented by the recipient countries to the EUROsocial II Programme within the framework of the Action “Compliance with Tax Obligations” Area “Public Finance”, coordinated by the FIIAPP, whose operating partners are AEAT of Spain, IEF of Spain and CIAT. In the future, CIAT and the EUROsociAL II partners will follow the requests and interests presented by the tax administrations beneficiaries of the program, in order to move forward with new activities to support voluntary compliance.
Spain - the Tax Agency creates a fast ‘on line’ system to expedite refunds from income subject to verifications Honduras – DEI recovers more than 57 million Lempiras from default Mexico - SAT presents tax regime incorporation return Mexico - SAT progresses steadily with implementing technology into procedures and services
The visitors together with Mr. Manuel Salvador Cruz Flores, Central Administrator of Transfer Pricing Control, and the SAT experts.
Photo: Evelyn V. Cooban – Head of the Transfer Pricing Unit, and Elidia Garcés - Panama Transfer Pricing Auditor, along with Mr. Alberto Platas, Transfer Pricing Control “2” Administrator , and three specialists of the SAT Transfer Pricing Area
Portugal - Antonio Brigas Afonso, new General Director of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) Dominican Republic – Need to encourage a tax culture Training IBFD News Post of the Month Documents of interest
Vistas de la Sesión inaugural de la 48 Asamblea General del CIAT.
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The DGI of Uruguay, together with the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information and the CIAT, promote a regional sharing of experiences on Information Exchange On July 14 to 16, a regional seminar on tax information exchange was held in Montevideo, mainly from the perspective of the tax auditor, in the framework of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information (GFTEI) program of the OECD called “the last mile”.
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The seminar was based on the processes constituting the relationship between internal taxation, collection of information and international infrastructure for information exchange. The objectives of this activity, coordinated by GFTEI, the DGI of Uruguay and CIAT, were to provide tax auditors with knowledge on standards, best practices and progresses made in recent years in the field, and encourage them to make an effective use of the available tools to enable information exchange, in order to fight the international tax evasion and elusion. This activity focused on tax auditors, on officers responsible for the training of auditors in international information exchange issues and other actors involved in the exchange of information for tax purposes.
CIAT is a public international organization which groups the tax administrations of 38 countries, (31 Amarican countries, 5 European countries, 1 African countries and 1 Asian country. India is an associate members), 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.
As a result, it has been possible to discuss complex cases based on exchange of information experiences from countries in the region, gathered by the tax administrations of Chile, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Uruguay, Turks and Caicos, and St. Kitts and Nevis; as well as to disseminate and discuss new developments and initiatives from GFTEI and CIAT involving tools to manage the exchange of information and the access to public information, and related training programs.
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From left to right, Mr. Simon Knott and Ms. Mary O’Leary, Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information; Mr. Pablo Ferreri , General Director from the General Directorate of Taxes of Uruguay and Gonzalo Arias, CIAT Director Cooperation & International Taxation.
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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 Participants Regional Seminar on Exchange of Tax Information.
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7th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration The 7th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration was held in Panama City on July 14 and 15. The CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi made the opening statement at this gathering which was chaired by Mrs. Kerrie Lawn, Values and Ethics Advisor of the Canada Revenue Agency, who, together with Ms. María Raquel Ayala Doval, the CIAT Executive Secretariat’s Director of Human Talent Training and Development were in charge of the technical coordination. Present in this meeting were representatives from Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, Netherlands, Panama, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay.
Participants “7th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration”.
Documents on Conflict of Interests, Internalization of Values in the organizations and Social Media in the Tax Administrations were discussed during the working sessions. These documents will be published shortly in the CIAT Website. Likewise, there were presentations of best practices implemented in the tax administrations of Brazil, Costa Rica, Mexico, Netherlands, as well as CIAT. At the closing of the meeting, the participants committed themselves to develop two new documents: one on Building Trust by the Tax Administrations and Loyalty vs Integrity.
Participants of event in company of the Secretariat officials who participate in the meeting.
The Tax Administrations Inform Argentina - AFIP conducted more than a million inspections
Costa Rica - Government strengthens measures to fight illegal trade
The 2013 Management Report summarizes that the agency conducted a total of 1,186,732 controls, in its three operating areas: Tax, Customs and Social Security, reaching more than 700,000 taxpayers. During the last tax period, 19.3 million returns were received on time.
As part of the actions taken by the Government to strengthen the fight against illicit trade, the second meeting of the Joint Commission created to consolidate projects and inter-national actions to prevent, control and combat market was conducted of such activities.
In 2013, AFIP implemented various programs of control and supervision in order to achieve the strategic objectives and meet the collection goal. The following summarizes the main results regarding the actions taken, including the number of inspections carried out, reaching a total of 702,564 taxpayers.
This commission also aims to act as a liaison between the State, the civil society and the productive sector regarding illicit trade, maintaining active communication with the State, local authorities, academic institutions, civil society and the productive sector.
María Luisa Carbonell Correspondent
Maribel Zúñiga Cambronero Correspondent
Chile - SII enables option to start Second Category activities via tablet or smartphone The Internal Revenue Service informs individuals who wish to start Second Category activities the application that can perform this procedure directly through their Smartphone or Tablet is fully enebled on the SII mobile website. The available option allows taxpayers to formalize their activities and, if needed, to immeditaly issue receipts for payments, without having to be in front of a computer or going to the SII office. Bernardita Moraga Correspondent
Spain - the Tax Agency creates a fast ‘on line’ system to expedite refunds from income subject to verifications The Tax Agency has launched a new procedure to quickly check personal income tax returns with result in refunds. The new system, called ‘Verify’, runs at the conclusion of the 2013 income campaign. It can be accessed only through the Agency’s website (www.agenciatributaria.es), using ‘PIN24H’ and the electronic certificate. In this first implementation stage, only the taxpayers who fulfil specific requirements will be able to follow the procedure (among them, that their return is individual and that does not include yields of economic activity in direct estimates).
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Honduras – DEI recovers more than 57 million Lempiras from default The Directorate of Revenue (DEI), started the enforced collection on taxpayers who on June 30 had to pay the first instalment and failed to meet this obligation, despite calls and written notifications sent to induce payment. Taxpayers were massively induced by the DEI to make their payment, and to date the agency has recovered more than 57 million Lempiras, of the 128 million of accumulated arrears from 93 taxpayers who did not pay the first instalment. Grace de La Paz Saravia Correspondent
Mexico - SAT presents tax regime incorporation return The Head of the SAT, Aristotle Sánchez Núñez, stressed in his message that thanks to structural reforms last year, those who are in the informal economy have choices and conditions allowing them to create a favourable environment for business through the tax Incorporation Regime whereby they access to a network of support and social protection. He said that currently there are 29 million people who are in the informal sector, and this is one of the great challenges in Mexico, while there are now 4.2 million of taxpayers who are in the tax regime incorporation, who already bill and keep records of their income and expenses. Adrian Guarneros Correspondent
Mexico - SAT progresses steadily with implementing technology into procedures and services Ten years after the emergence of the electronic invoice, the Director of the SAT, Mr. Aristotle Nunez, emphasized that the introduction of technology in the public service is indispensable. The Ministry of Finance, through the Tax Administration Service (SAT), is implementing new technologies to facilitate compliance by taxpayers, with procedures and services more accessible, so that they can be performed through a mobile device anytime, anywhere. Adrian Guarneros Correspondent
Portugal - Antonio Brigas Afonso, new General Director of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) Mr. Antonio Brigas Afonso has been named as General Director of the Tax and Customs Authority (AT) through Resolution No. 9243/2014, appointed by the Excellency the State Minister of Finance Maria Luís Casanova Morgado Dias de Albuquerque and published in the Journal of the Republic No. 136 (2 th Series), July 17. He is a Bachelor in Law from the University of Lisbon, and Professor at the Institute of Economic, Financial and Tax Law.
Dominican Republic – Need to encourage a tax culture The deputy director of Planning and Development of the General Directorate of Internal Taxes (DGII), Esther Hernandez Medina, suggested that one of the major challenges facing the country is the creation of a tax culture, in which citizens understand the importance of complying with the payment of taxes. She explained that in that sense the DGII develops a training plan and guidance to citizens, which send their tax specialists to schools, universities and institutions to provide educational programs on rights and duties of the taxpayers. Nieves Vargas Collado Correspondent
Training As part of our commitment to support the human talent development within the TAs, we have started the registration process for the courses that begin in the second half of 2014, please find here the general information for each of the available programs.
IBFD News International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) Cooperation - CIAT - IBF 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.
Post of the Month Tuesday, 29 July 2014 By: Ceferino Albano Costa González Tax incentives, again Miguel Pecho, in a recent publication, has developed a significant comment on tax incentives based on statistical studies. Sunday, 27 July 2014 By: Raul Zambrano A bold adventure and a common adjective I was fortunate to attend to the First international Forum of Tax Administration and E-invoice developed in July 2014 in the city of Cancun, Quintana Roo, where I was invited to participate in a couple of panels. The Forum responded to a joint initiative between the Tax Administration of Mexico – SAT, and the Mexican Association of Authorization and Certification Services Providers- AMEXIPAC services. Friday, 18 July 2014 By: Raul Zambrano Myth, traditions, legends and other things (ix) I would like to begin this post by asking a question: How many contact telephone numbers do you think your administration has?.
Documents of interest “Des formations transfrontalières pour plus d’efficacité” Cross-border trainings for more efficiency Directorate General of Public Finance (DGFiP) France
While tax administrations must constantly adapt to internationalization and the dematerialization of exchanges, cooperation between neighbouring countries is becoming always more essential to deal with fraud. In this context, since 2001, the territorial departments of the Directorate General of Public Finance (DGFiP) in north-eastern France have established close relations with the three neighbouring Landers of Germany to establish a procedure for requesting information directly through a network of correspondents. Available in English / Spanish / French