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eCIAT ISSN 1684-9833 • Year 6 / No. 5 / March 14, 2014

Infotmation

The Executive Secretariat Informs First Regional Consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean on the fight against Tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS)

CIAT General Assembly Brazil, 2014

The Executive Secretariat Informs First Regional Consultation for Latin America and the Caribbean on the fight against Tax Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Meeting of the Working Group responsible for updating the CIAT Tax Code Model IV LAC Tax Policy Forum The Tax Administrations Inform Argentina – Agreement between AFIP and ARBA on data-crossing for tax crimes Brazil - During a press conference Federal Revenue announces new releases for the DIRPF 2014 Brazil - A new registration system in the CPF for residents abroad Costa Rica - and the States of Guernsey sign an Agreement to Exchange Tax Information Colombia – Leading the fight against tax evasion by multinational companies in Latin America Ecuador –SRI Mobile application is already implemented Paraguay - February Tax Revenues grew by 14% Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Over 45 billion Bs collected by SENIAT during the first months of the year

On February 27 and 28, sponsored by the Tax and Customs Directorate of Colombia (DIAN), the CIAT and the OECD, the first regional consultation for Latin America and Caribbean on BEPS was held in Bogota; the main purpose was to inform developing countries about the general and specific aspects of the BEPS action plan and involve the countries of the region in the respective tasks. During the meeting, within the context of Latin America and the Caribbean, relevant aspects regarding tax policy and administration were discussed; the bases of the BEPS project and the elements of the Action Plan were presented, discussions were held with representatives of NGOs and the civil society, in particular on BEPS aspects of substance, transparency and consistency, as well as horizontal measures provided by the project. In addition, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information presented and discussed with participants the recent standard on Automatic Exchange of Financial Information. The event brought together 78 participants from 15 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as representatives from 10 regional and international organizations including the OECD, the OECD in Korea, the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Tax Information , IMF, CIAT, G20 , USAID, ITC , IDB, COSEFIN , GIZ and the Commonwealth of Nations . Also participated Organizations representing the business world (BIAC, through regional and Colombians partners such as Repsol , Unilever and the National Industrial Association - ANDI) and the civil society (including: TUAC , TJN , BEPS Monitoring Group, Global Alliance for Tax Justice and Latindadd ) .

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The meeting was co -chaired with the DIAN of Colombia and the CIAT, in coordination with the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration; they have jointly developed a document that summarizes the most important aspects of the discussion, which can be accessed at: http://www.oecd.org/ tax/beps-regional-consultations-asia-latin-america.htm For more information please contact Mr. Gonzalo Arias garias@ciat.org

Meeting of the Working Group responsible for updating the CIAT Tax Code Model We invite you to CIATalks, the space provided by CIAT. Read the posts, give your opinion and actively participate

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.

The first meeting of the Working Group in charge of updating the CIAT Tax Code Model was held in Panama City on February 17 to 21, 2014. This meeting was attended by Eduardo Gabriel de Goes Vieira Ferreira Fogaça, from the Secretariat of the Federal Revenue (SRF) of Brazil; Juan Francisco Redondo, of the State Agency for Tax Administration (AEAT) from Spain; Juan Antonio López Vega, from the Tax Administration Services (SAT) of Mexico, Nora Maria Victoria Quintana Flores from the National Superintendent of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) of Peru; and Sully Fonseca Altez from the Directorate General of Taxation (DGI) of Uruguay. Adrián Torrealba and Liliana Chipoco, as rapporteurs. On behalf of the sponsors, the following participants were present, Fernando Velayos Jiménez from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Joerg Wisner from the German Cooperation Agency Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), and Miguel Pecho Trigueros, from the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT). It was also attended by Luis Cremades Ugarte, Head of the Spanish Mission. The second face-to-face meeting of the working group will be held in the first week of June, 2014, in the city of Panama, Republic of Panama.

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Participants to the meeting of the working group in charge of updating the CIAT Tax Code Model, from left to right: Juan Antonio López Vega, Adrián Torrealba, Nora María Victoria Quintana Flores, Sully Fonseca Altez, Luis Cremades Ugarte, Liliana Chipoco, Márcio Ferreira Verdi, Miguel Pecho Trigueros, Fernando Velayos Jiménez, Zoraya Miranda, Eduardo Gabriel de Góes Vieira Ferreira Fogaça, María Luisa Fernández, Juan Francisco Redondo, and Joerg Wisner.

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IV LAC Tax Policy Forum

Mexico City, 3-4 July 2014

The fourth LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) Tax Policy Forum will take place on 3-4 July in Mexico City. This year’s Forum builds on the dialogue launched in Panama in 2010, continued in Colombia in 2012 and in Uruguay last year on key tax policy issues for the region. The LAC Tax Policy Forum is one of the main streams of work under the LAC Fiscal Initiative (www.oecd.org/tax/ lacfiscal), a regional programme that aims to foster fiscal policy dialogue in the LAC region on mobilising domestic resources through improvements to taxation and public expenditure policies. This regional dialogue is supported by the development of internationally comparable data (e.g. Revenue Statistics in Latin America), capacity building workshops, and the preparation of analytical papers. Another stream of work consists of assisting countries with the design and implementation of fiscal reform measures. This work is carried out in close co-operation with strategic regional partners such as CIAT, ECLAC and IDB. Finally, we would like to take this opportunity to inform you that a technical event on Tax Incentives will take place the following week (7-11 July) at the OECD Multilateral Tax Centre in Mexico, which will serve to complement and strengthen the activities of this network. For any further information or questions please contact Katherine Perkins [ Katherine.Perkins@oecd.org]

The Tax Administrations Inform

Argentina – Agreement between AFIP and ARBA on data-crossing for tax crimes The head of the AFIP; Ricardo Echegaray, and the ARBA Executive Director, Mr Ivan Budassi, have signed an agreement through which both organizations will cross data on crimes related to Tax law violations With this new agreement, the organizations will offer each other information related to tax crimes through a computer tool called “Matrix for Tax Crime Information Exchange”. Additionally, AFIP and ARBA are committed not to disclose these confidential data. Lina Silvana Anllo Correspondent

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Brazil - During a press conference Federal Revenue announces new releases for the DIRPF 2014 The Federal Revenue presented on 02/21 the innovations of the Personal Income Tax Return (DIRPF for its acronyms in Portuguese), emphasizing that the institution systematically seeks to improve the programs developed focusing on the simplification for the taxpayer. The most important issue is the pre-filled return, which is available not only to those who own digital certificate. Taxpayers may, electronically, be someone who has a certification (an accountant, for example) in order to use the developments available this year. In the pre-filled return, the taxpayer´s work will be to verify that the fields are filled according to the data submitted by taxpayers in the DIRF. The gain can be substantial since the taxpayer will not need to change any data. Another implementation is to expand the functionality of the version for mobile applications, with the use of “app” m-IRPF reaching only 10% of taxpayers. This strengthening of the statement via mobile devices meets, including changes in the social structure of Brazil, with more citizens reaching incomes within the income tax range and at the same time, with more smartphones and tablets. Also optimizes the time that citizen-taxpayer, need to fill out an application, save it, retrieve, or transmit it. Among the novelties of the second year of the m-IRPF stands the import of data from the 2013 return. An important caveat is that the iOS operating system (for Apple devices) does not automatically save the returns after transmission. The user should make the copy of the transmitted return. News for the 2014 Returns Generator Program (PGD for its acronyms in Portuguese) - The Federal Revenue Normative Instruction n º 1.416/2013 establishes the possibility for taxpayers and the health plans to provide electronic vouchers for income and deductions. These entities have until February 28 to deliver the data to the taxpayers. Having the digital file, the taxpayer can make a return in the PGD of the 2014 IRPF and may import this file which will automatically fill out all the fields of the return with the taxpayers’ information. This will potentially prevent errors in transcription and deflate the amount of returns with mistakes. The PGD will be available on February 26. The transmission, however, only occurs from March 6. Table of deadlines: PGD

Mobile devices (m-IRPF)

Available

February 26

06/Mar

Start of transmissions

06/Mar

Deadline for submission

April 30

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Brazil - A new registration system in the CPF for residents abroad The Federal revenue, in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs-MRE, implemented a new registration service for the registration of Individuals (CPF) residents abroad. The process, which took an average of 20 days to complete, was immediately implemented. The interested parties to obtain the inscription on the CPF should perform the following procedures: 1. Fill in the electronic form in versions in Portuguese, Spanish or English, available at www.receita. fazenda.gov.br and print it; and 2. Submit the form, with the copies of personal documents, in a Brazilian consular office (Consulate or Embassy with a consular section), for the purpose of completing the request. The Brazilian consular office will process the request and inform the interested party the entry number in the CPF register. In case there is any inaccuracy, the application will be forwarded to the Federal Revenue for its analysis. In this case, the requester may follow the progress of the request at www.receita.fazenda.gov.br versions in Portuguese, Spanish or English. Within 90 days, the applicant may: a) issue the CPF Inscription voucher through the available service on the Federal Revenue website; and b) in case of inaccuracy in the registration of data, the required rectification has no charge.

Costa Rica - And the States of Guernsey sign an Agreement to Exchange Tax Information Representatives of the Governments of Costa Rica and the States of Guernsey (British Crown Dependency) signed last Wednesday an “Agreement for the Exchange of Tax Information,” which establishes the arrangements by which the exchange of tax information between the two jurisdictions will be regulated. This Agreement is part of the network of international treaties that Costa Rica has signed in order to meet international standards of tax transparency in relation to the exchange of information relevant for tax purposes; at this time Costa Rica has signed 16 agreements of this type, of which 14 Act of the Republic and two are in the process of approval in the Legislative Assembly. Maribel Zúñiga Cambronero Correspondent

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Colombia – Leading the fight against tax evasion by multinational companies in Latin America The Minister of Finance and Public Credit, Mauricio Cardenas Santamaria underlined the leadership that Colombia plays within the region in the global fight against tax evasion by multinationals. “The meeting discussed the need of joint determinations, specific challenges, ongoing dialogue and exchange of information between the countries involved, to deal effectively with the problem of Tax Base erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and avoid maneuvers and aggressive practices carried out mainly by multinational companies, “the minister said. Rubén Darío Pineda Correspondent

Ecuador – SRI Mobile application is already implemented The Internal Revenue Service, aiming to facilitate information services to citizens, presents is institutional “SRI Mobile application”, which can be downloaded to mobile devices with internet access from any android, iPhone and blackberry app stores. Through this new channel, citizens can easily access their tax information, news, information from agencies and social networks from the institution. Mauro Andino A. Correspondent

Paraguay - February Tax Revenues grew by 14% In February 2014, the State Sub secretariat of Taxation (SET) has collected around 486 billion Gs, which means an increase of 59 billion Guarani (14.0% additional) against the February 2013 collection. So far this year (January to February 2014), the SET has collected a total amount of 1 trillion 202 billion of Guarani, about USD 267 million. This implies an increase of 220 billion Guarani regarding the revenue collected by the SET in the first two months of 2013, as shown in the following table. Alba Servín Correspondent

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Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela - Over 45 billion Bs collected by SENIAT during the first months of the year The National Integrated Customs and Tax Administration (SENIAT) has reached a collection revenue of 45.23 billion bolivars, during the period between January and February 2014, which represents a surplus of 21.8 percent, compared the established goal of 37.13 billion. This information was presented by the National Customs and Tax Superintendent Jose David Cabello Rondon, during a press conference held in SENIAT headquarters located in the Mata de Coco Mall in the Capital District.. Pablo Pinto Chávez Correspondent

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