January – December 2013

Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations - CIAT

September 2013

January – December

2 September 2013 May 2013 April 2013 January – August, 2013

January and August, 2013

May 2013 May 2013 May 2013 April 2013 May 2013 May 2013

January 2013 January 2013 July 2013 March 2013 July 2013 March 2013 April 2013 July 2013

January and August, 2013

April 2013

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July 2013 December 2013

August 2013 August 2013 September 2013 September 2013 September 2013 September 2013

July 2013 December 2013

January – December

From January 28 to February 1, the Finance Subcommittee of the CIAT Executive Council met at the Executive Secretariat headquarters, to review the Audited Financial Statements through June 30, 2012, the current budget execution, and the draft 2013-2014 Annual Operational Plan and Budget.

January

The current Subcommittee members are Irene Carrizo (DGI of Panama), Luis A. Velasco (SRI of Ecuador), John M. Conte (AFIP of Argentina), and Marcos A. Da Cunha (SRF of Brazil).

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The PROFISCO Modernization Project Seminar was held on January 24 and 25, 2013 in the city of Palmas, Tocantins, Brazil, at the Finance Secretariat of this State. The event included presentations on expenditure management and tax administration. The Finance Ministries of the Brazilian states of Bahia, Minas Gerais, Pernambuco and São Paulo, the Ministry of Planning of the Brazilian Union, and the Inter-American Development Bank contributed presentations.

January

CIAT participated with presentations by Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, Luis Cremades, head of the Spanish Mission at CIAT and Raul Zambrano, Technical Assistance Director, with the presentations: "Current Challenges for Tax Administration", "Spain's experience with the Forum of Large Companies and Corporate Social Responsibility "and" Current Trends in Information Technology for Tax Administration "respectively.

Picture: Mr. Luis Cremades Ugarte, Head of the Permanent Mission of Spain to CIAT ; Mr. Raul Zambrano, Technical Assistance and ICT Director; Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary

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January

Mr. Miguel Pecho, Director of Tax Studies and Research, visited on Wednesday January 30, the Directorate General of the Guardia di Finanza in Rome, Italy, as part of the international cooperation activities this organization is promoting with the tax authorities of CIAT member countries.

Colonel Rosario Massino (Head of the International Cooperation Office), in the picture, personally made a balance of his management unit in the past two years and gave details of the main projects being developed in the tax intelligence, information exchange and international control areas. The visit also allowed for coordinating actions with the Guardia di Finanza to increase the exchange of information for tax purposes and the work carried out by experts of this administration with CIAT member countries, as part of the "peer review" process from the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information.

From left to right: Mr. Miguel Pecho, Director of Tax Studies and Research and Colonel Rosario Massino, Head of the International Cooperation Office.

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The seminar discussed the progress achieved in the autonomous Latin American tax administrations on legal framework, organization, budget management, administration and human resources management issues. It was organized by the Ministry of Economy and Finance of Panama with the co-sponsorship of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the World Bank, RD CAPTAC and the American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT).

February

Pictured from left to right; Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary and Mr. Jorge Cosulich Ayala, Panama Project Manager.

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February

As part of the program of the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) to strengthen the institutional capacities of national tax administrations, the tax transaction costs measurement workshop within small and medium companies was launched on Wednesday February 27.

During the workshop, participants reviewed the methodology developed by the Executive Secretariat team to identify, measure and reduce the main components of the tax transactions costs. The participants also discussed the best alternatives for a more effective implementation of the measurement by countries. .

Photo of the participants- Workshop on the Measurement of Tax Transactions Costs in Small and Medium Enterprises.

The CIAT / UN-DESA project is coordinated by the CIAT Directorate of Tax Studies and Research.

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March

Opening ceremony, from left to right: Hans Fuch, Coordinator of the Tax Policy Support Project from the German Cooperation; Miguel Gutierrez, Superintendent of the Guatemalan Tax Administration; Jesus Oyamburu, Director of the Spanish Cooperation Training Center; Márcio Ferreira Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, who presented the opening lecture "On Transfer Pricing in Latin America: Progresses and Main Barriers“ and Salvador Giovanni Garrido Valdez, Control Intendant of the Tax Administration Superintendency.

The Tax Administration Superintendency in partnership with the German Cooperation Agency, through the Fiscal Policy Support project- GIZ-, Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations - CIAT - and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development - AECID -, organized the seminar-workshop “Transfer Pricing", from Monday, February 25th.to Friday, March 1, 2013 in the city of Antigua Guatemala The workshop was intended for professionals of the control, collection, customs, legal affairs, and all operational managements at national level Intendances, with the participation of control and resolutions professionals, They discussed various issues and developed case studies and specific aspects about transfer pricing, under the direction of well-known experts from Latin America, including: Adriana García (Venezuela), Jairo Godoy (Ecuador), Oscar Ramos (Argentina) and Edgar Mendoza (Guatemala) and the support of SAT professional collaborators.

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March

Photo: Members of the CIAT Executive Council, together with the Directors of the Executive Secretariat

On March 7 and 8 the CIAT Executive Council held its meeting in Panama City. The Executive Secretariat presented the report on activities carried out and the current budget execution as well as the draft Annual Operational Plan and Budget for the 2013-2014 period.

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March

Within the framework of the International Tax Compact (ITC) initiative, conducted by the CIAT Executive Secretariat with the GIZ of Germany, a federal agency which assists the Federal Republic of Germany Government to achieve its objectives in international cooperation for sustainable development; and the Ministry of Finance of Costa Rica, the training of more than one hundred DGT control areas officials was held on March 18. The speaker was: Mrs. Jenny Jimenez, Director of International Taxation and Tax Technique, with the topic "Costa Rica’s experience in the field of tax information exchange“ and Mr. Gonzalo Arias, Director of Cooperation and International Taxation, participated with the topic "Relationship between the exchange of information and tax audit offices."

In the picture, from left to right: Mr. Gonzalo Arias, Director of International Cooperation and Taxation, Mrs. Flor Nieto, Deputy Director of Information Exchange SAT-Mexico, Mrs. Jenny Jimenez, Director of International Taxation and Tax Technique, Mr. Rufino de la Rosa, Head of the Central Information Team from the AEAT of Spain and Mr. Stefano Gesuelli, Head of the Italian Mission to the CIAT Executive Secretariat.

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March

During the week of March 23rd, the CIAT Executive Secretary, Márcio F. Verdi travelled to Washington DC and New York City to meet with officials of several international organizations and the U.S. representative. Messrs. Luis Cremades, Head of the Spanish Mission at CIAT and Socorro Velazquez, Director of Planning and Institutional Development, accompanied Mr. Verdi.

•! officials of the International Monetary Fund concerning CIAT support on an IMF tax administration performance analytical tool

•! US IRS Acting Commissioner, Mr. Steven Miller, and Douglas O’Donnell, Assistant Deputy Commissioner (International)

•! Ms. Verenda Smith Deputy Director of the Federation of Tax Administrators (FTA). •! USAID and US Treasury Office of Technical Assistance (OTA) officials. •! officials from the World Bank, Latin America – Public Sector Department. The CIAT

delegation met with Section Manager Arturo Herrera Gutiérrez and Raúl Junquera. •! Mr. Lucky Molefe, Tax Attaché of the Republic of South Africa at it’s Washington embassy. •! Mr. Alexander Trepelkov, Director, Financing for Development Office, UN-DESA, and his staff

members Dominika Halka and Harry Tonino.

From left to right: Mr. Steven Miller, US IRS Acting Commissioner and the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio Ferreira Verdi

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April

On April 16, the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, welcomed the delegation from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-OECD-Korea. The purpose of the meeting was to share the CIAT Executive Secretariat’s experience in its 46 year-long history; in particular, those aspects dealing with its organizational structure, strategic and operational plans, programs, activities, meetings and projects. The agenda developed by the CIAT Executive Secretariat’s staff, headed by the Executive Secretary allowed for a productive session with Messrs. Kyu Bum CHO, Director General, Tax Programme, OECD/Korea Policy Centre; Jung Hong KIM, Director, Tax Programme, OECD/Korea Policy Centre and Ms. Young Park, Communications Officer.

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April

The aforementioned seminar was held in Panama on April 3-5, for the main purpose of presenting and discussing the prototype of an electronic invoicing system to be used in international trade among the CIAT member countries. Officials from the tax administrations from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Peru and the Dominican Republic as well as representatives from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Central America, Panama, Dominican Republic Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CAPTAC-DR) attended the workshop.

The development of the centralized system and the implementation of the web services generated the greatest interest among the participants. This raised the question of optimization through the collaboration with three countries which would participate in the pilot project of this development. The Tax Administrations also stressed their interest in collaborating with the development of the international electronic invoicing model. As a result, a web site for the exchange of information on international electronic invoicing has been created for the group (http://ieis.ciat.org).

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April

With the sponsorship of the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP) of Argentina, the 47th CIAT General Assembly was held in Buenos Aires, under the main theme of “International taxation aspects that affect management of the Tax Administration” The event was attended by more than 30 delegations from CIAT member countries and associate member countries; 11 delegations of invited countries; and 28 delegations of international organizations and institutions related to CIAT.

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April

The General Assembly elected the 2013-2014 Executive Council which is formed as follows:

President Councilors

Ricardo Echegaray – Argentina

Carlos Barreto – Brazil Brian McCauley – Canada

Alejandro Burr Ortúzar - Chile

Yolanda Álvarez de la Torre – Cuba

Carlos Alfredo Cativo Sandoval - El Salvador Peter Veld – Netherlands

Tania Quispe – Peru

Pablo Ferreri - Uruguay

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May

The CIAT Executive Secretariat made available a new publication to the MyCIAT community. It is an “Exploratory Study on the Impact of Double Taxation Agreements to attract Direct Foreign Investment: The case of Latin America, carried out by Economist Luis A. Peragón Lorenzo, within the framework of the ITC/GIZ/CIAT Collaboration Program.

The purpose of this document is to disseminate the role of Double Taxation Agreements as important normative instruments for attracting direct foreign investment flows, as well as relevant information of the different double taxation agreements entered into by each of the countries of the study.

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May

As a result of the work performed by GIZ and CIAT within the "Regional Program” framework on large companies taxation and transfer pricing which was initiated in 2008 by InWent and currently led by GIZ, there has been progress in the discussion of initiatives that derive in tangible results for the tax administrations in Latin America. Unanimously, the tax administrations stressed the need to access public information and ideas on how to deal with an initiative of this nature. For the purpose of moving forward with this initiative and determine its feasibility, ITC provided funds that allowed for elaborating the document promoted in the present newsletter, and carrying out a working group meeting with CIAT member countries of Latin America which took place in Montevideo in 2012, and a meeting with the working team that was held in Panama in 2013.

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May

The panel of specialists consisted of officials from the Global Forum on Transparency and Information Exchange, Guardia di Finanza of Italy, DGI of Panama, The Secretariat of Federal Revenues of Brazil, HMRC from the United Kingdom, OECD, World Bank and CIAT. Also attending were officials from different areas of the Secretariat of Federal Revenues of Brazil, as well as from the tax administrations of Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The discussions dealt with legal aspects of international standards for information exchange, procedural aspects and issues of current importance such as FATCA and the “Oslo Dialogue”.

As a result of multilateral efforts of the Federal Secretariat of Revenues of Brazil, ESAF, World Bank, the Global Forum on Transparency and Information Exchange, OECD and CIAT, a seminar was held in Brasilia on May 7 through 10, 2013 for exchanging experiences and providing knowledge regarding the main processes and challenges in effective tax information exchange.

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May

The CIAT Executive Secretariat made available a new publication to the MyCIAT community. It is a working document entitled: “Stylized facts of Financial Transaction Taxes in Latin America: 1990-2012”, which was sponsored by the Institute of Fiscal Studies of the Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations of the Kingdom of Spain. The main objective of this work is to review the experience of Latin American countries in the application of this type of taxes, including not only those that adopt the form of a Bank Debt Tax or Expanded Bank Debt Tax, but also those that adopt the form of a Tax on Securities Transactions or a Stamp Tax.

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May

In order to support said actions, a team of specialists from CIAT, the AEAT of Spain, the Guardia di Finanza of Italy and SENIAT of Venezuela visited SAT on May 21 through 23 to provide technical assistance in normative, structural and operational aspects relative to the effective implementation of information exchange, based on international standards and the most widely disseminated best practices. The resources for carrying out this activity were provided by GIZ, within the framework of the Cooperation Agreement signed between International Tax Compact and the CIAT Executive Secretariat.

From left to right:Stefano Gesuelli, Head of the Italian Mission at CIAT; Manfredo Chocano, SAT Planning and Institutional Development Manager; Deissy Moreno, Expert official from SENIAT of Venezuela; Rufino De La Rosa, Expert official from the AEAT of Spain; Gonzalo Arias, CIAT International Cooperation and Taxation Director; Carlos Muñoz, SAT Superintendent; Omar Franco, SAT Collection Intendant and Santiago Urbizo, SAT Project Manager

As a result of the international commitments acquired by Guatemala in the sphere of tax information exchange, among them, the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance and Information Exchange and the Central American Convention on Mutual Assistance and Technical Cooperation between Tax Administrations, the Superintendency of Tax Administration has carried out numerous actions intended to achieve an effective information exchange.

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May

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The heads of tax administrations from the 28 CREDAF member countries participated in this important event. This organization includes the Francophone countries from Europe, Africa, America and the Caribbean. Tax specialists from international and regional organizations such as UNDP, IMF, OECD, IBFD, ADETEF, ATAF and CIAT also participated. Francisco J. Beiner, CIAT Director of Institutional Management and Operations, represented the CIAT Executive Secretariat.

The CIAT Executive Secretariat participated in the technical sessions of the CREDAF General Assembly held in Brazzaville, Congo, from May 27 to 30, in response to the special invitation to the CREDAF General Secretary Mr. Gilles Berteau, to present the conclusions of the CIAT General Assembly on International Taxation, held in Buenos Aires in April 2013. Photo: Main table of the CREDAF General Assembly, held in

Brazzaville, Congo, from May 27 to 30, 2013

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May

CIAT and CREDAF signed a Cooperation Agreement for strengthening their inter-institutional relations. This agreement is part of the necessary and important cooperation between CIAT and CREDAF in the international taxation field, the exchange of information, projects, studies and joint international activities between both organizations for the benefit of Tax Administrations of their member countries.

Photo, left to right: Antoine Ngakosso, Director of Taxation in Congo and President of CREDAF; F. J. Beiner, CIAT Director of Institutional Management and Operations; and Gilles Berteau, CREDAF General Secretary, in Brazzaville on May 27.

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May

By invitation of the Brazilian Federation of Associations of State Tax Examiners – FEBRAFITE- , Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, participated in the IX National and IV International Congress held in João Pessoa, Brazil. Some 600 participants, among tax auditors from all over the country, representatives of FEBRAFITE affiliated associations and special guests were present in this event, where Mr. Verdi presented a paper on “Diagnosis of Performance of Latin American Tax Administrations – 2006/2010”. Within the framework of this event Mr. Verdi was presented the “FEBRAFITE /State-District Treasury Order of Merit award for his significant contribution to the Brazilian Tax Administration. The FEBRAFITE Congress traditionally presents this award every two years.

Mr. Márcio dedicated this recognition to his father, Victor Raimundo Verdi, who devoted most of his professional career to the Brazilian Tax Administration, which he joined in 1965 as Income Tax Examiner.

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May

During the week of May 28th, CIAT Directors Miguel Pecho and Socorro Velazquez participated in several meetings organized and hosted by the United Nations

•! On May 28th there was a meeting of the "Expert Group on Extractive Industries Taxation.“

•! On May 29th, ECOSOC “Special Meeting on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.”

•! On Thursday and Friday, May 30 and 31st, the Financing for Development Office (FfDO) of UN-DESA and the International Tax Compact (ITC) hosted a technical meeting on a joint project aimed at strengthening the capacity of Ministries of Finance and National Tax Authorities in developing countries

Socorro Velázquez, CIAT Director of Institutional Planning and Development; and Miguel Eduardo Pecho, Director of Tax Studies and Research (CIAT), with delegates from Ecuador, Chile, Colombia, Peru and Uruguay.

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June

Through Resolution No. 6053, of May 20, 2013, the Ministry of National Education of Colombia has granted the Qualified Register for a 7-year period to the Virtual Master’s Program in International Taxation, Foreign Trade and Customs of Universidad Externado de Colombia and CIAT. The master’s program seeks to provide officials of the tax administrations of the Latin American countries members of CIAT, as well as private sector professionals who are in permanent contact with the pertinent government entities, an in-depth academic training in the subject matters to be considered.

Accreditation: Those fulfilling the requisites provided in the Studies Plan will be granted the official academic degree of MASTER in International Taxation, Foreign Trade and Customs. Number of academic credits: 57.

Estimated duration: two years. Methodology: At a distance – virtual and three face-to-face visits in Latin American countries.

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June

Within the framework of the existing cooperation program between “International Tax Compact” and CIAT, technical assistance was provided to SUNAT of Peru on June 5 to 7, 2013, regarding the necessary legal, administrative and operational issues involved in an effective tax information exchange. The working team members were the Head of the Central Information Unit of Spain’s AEAT, the Head of the Italian Mission (Guardia di Finanza) before CIAT, officials from various areas of SUNAT and the CIAT Director of International Cooperation and Taxation.

SUNAT Superintendent, Mrs. Tania Quispe, made the opening statement. On several occasions she has stressed the importance of this practice for strengthening the control of globalized taxpayers and improving the levels of transparency and cooperation in Peru.

SUNAT Superintendent, Mrs. Tania Quispe, welcomes the participants

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June

Mr. Miguel Pecho, Director of Tax Studies and Research, on behalf of the CIAT Executive Secretary, participated on June 28th as speaker at the II International Tax Law Congress organized by the Tax Administrative Court (TAT) of Panama, with the topic "impact of agreements to avoid double taxation to attract FDI: possible measurements in the case of Latin America". National and international speakers from Argentina, Spain, Guatemala and Peru participated in this Congress, which was held at the Sheraton Hotel in the city of Panama, from June 26 to 28.

Mr. Miguel Pecho, Director of Tax Studies and Research of CIAT, receives recognition for participating in the II International Tax Law Congress.

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June

A group integrated by officials from CIAT, the AEAT of Spain and the Head of the Italian Mission at CIAT (Guardia di Finanza) visited the DGII of the Dominican Republic on June 25 to 27 to support the definition of strategies to strengthen International tax exchange of information and fiscal intelligence. This assistance has been possible thanks to the cooperation agreement between the International Tax Compact and CIAT. Through this agreement, many assistance projects to developing CIAT member countries have been provided for research, audit sectors, Economic international taxation and information technology applied to tax administration, among other important aspects for the tax administrations.

Nieves Vargas, Head of the International Cooperation Department of the Tax Administration; Gonzalo Arias, CIAT Director of International Taxation and Cooperation and Dennis Manzanillo, DGII Deputy Director of Audit.

Dennis Manzanillo, DGII Deputy Director of Audit; Stefano Gesuelli, Head of the Italian Mission at CIAT (Guardia di Finanza) and Esther Hernandez Medina, DGII General Deputy Director.

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June

At the IEF headquarters in Madrid on June 26, 2013, the Director General of the IEF Mr. José Antonio Martínez Álvarez and the CIAT Executive Secretary Mr. Márcio F. Verdi signed a Collaboration Agreement between the two institutions for granting the 2013 Research Scholarship.

This research scholarship focuses on policy or tax administration issues in the Ibero-American context and it is for 18 months. Its Endowment is USD$7,500. In this edition the proposed topic was "The Estate taxation in Latin America: legislation compared in different Government levels, complementarity in the control with the income tax and minimum taxation on certain assets. "Proposals and future developments." Left to right: Mrs. Marta Ganado, IEF General Secretary; Juan Antonio

Martinez, IEF Director; Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, and Mr. Luis Cremades Ugarte, Head of the Spanish Mission at CIAT.

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June

The opening ceremony of the closing seminar of the IX Edition of the international master in tax administration and public finance took place last June 26, 2013 in Madrid at the Fiscal Studies Institute headquarters. The welcoming words were pronounced by D. Manuel Díaz Corral, Director of the Public Finance School and Member of the Masters Board of directors. Next, Mr. José Manuel Guirola López, UNED Professor of applied economics took the floor, followed by Mr. Fernando Díaz Yubero, Academic Director of the master's Degrees and Member of the Masters in Taxation Board of directors (AEAT); D. Fernando Rojas Urtasun, Deputy Director General of Intervention, Control and legal analysis in other financial Areas (IGAE); D. Ricardo Cospedal Garcia, Deputy Director of the CEDDET Foundation; and D. Márcio F. Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary.

View from the main table: Mr. Márcio F. Verdi addresses the participants.

Subsequently the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio. F. Verdi, gave a lecture on "the main services provided by CIAT to the tax administrations in Latin America.

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July

Several Latin American countries participated on July 10 to 12, in an event for exchanging experiences on abusive transfer pricing manipulation. This event was possible thanks to the collaboration of the Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) of Argentina, which presented their experience and offered their central office facilities. This activity is a result of the financial and logistical support provided by the Fiscal Studies Institute of Spain (IEF), the International Foundation of Administration and Public Policies for Ibero-America (FIIAPP) and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), in the EUROsocial II framework.

Participants of the activity..

All participating countries (Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala and Paraguay) consider that transfer pricing is a strategic issue and therefore, at the beginning of the EUROsociAL program, they presented requests on this topic.

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July

The 6th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration was held in Panama City on July 4 and 5. It began with an opening statement by Mr. Socorro Velázquez, who represented the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, and was chaired by Mrs. Kerrie Lawn; Values and Ethics Adviser of the Canada Revenue Agency. Likewise, Mrs. Lawn and Mrs. María Raquel Ayala Doval, Director of Human Talent Training and Development of the CIAT Executive Secretariat, were in charge of the technical coordination. Present in the meeting were participants from Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Guatemala, Kenya, Netherlands, New Zealand, Panama, Spain, Sweden and Uruguay. The topics discussed dealt with ethics and best practices developed in the tax administrations.

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Photo: Participants of event in company of the Secretariat officials who participate in the meeting.

Participants "6th Meeting of the Permanent Committee on Ethics and Tax Administration"

July

The goal of the meeting with representatives of the tax administrations of six selected Asian countries, international tax experts, and ITC development partners as CIAT, was to discuss the summary report that was drawn up on the basis of the individual country studies conducted by ITC regarding the Progress and Challenges for Tax Systems in Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

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This Regional Seminar, held in Bangkok from 3 to 5 July 2013, was co-sponsored by ITC and the Revenue Department of the Kingdom of Thailand. CIAT's presentation at the Seminar on "Networks for Regional Technical Cooperation" was conducted by Francisco J. Beiner, Director of Institutional Management & Operations. The International Tax Compact (ITC) is an initiative commissioned by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), and implemented by GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH) to strengthen international cooperation with developing and transition countries to increase own revenue, and to fight tax evasion and avoidance.

July

On July 1-5, the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi, participated as guest speaker in the II Latin American International Taxation Course, organized by the School of Law of Universidad Complutense in Madrid, Spain. On this occasion, Mr. Verdi presented a paper on “Effective implementation of information exchange units”. The purpose of the event was to discuss main themes regarding international taxation, with special emphasis on Latin American issues, together with the most innovative and important ones in the international sphere.

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Shown in the picture, is the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi making his presentation.

The Third LAC (Latin America and Caribbean) Forum on Tax Policy was held on July 4 and 5, in Montevideo, Uruguay. This meeting was jointly organized by IDB, ECLAC, CIAT and OECD and sponsored by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the General Directorate of Taxation of Uruguay. The Minister of Economy and Finance of Uruguay, Mr. Fernando Lorenzo, inaugurated the meeting. The purpose of the LAC initiative is to promote the dialogue on tax policy in the region, with a view to facilitating the mobilization of national resources through improvements in tax policies and public expenditure. This year the forum was focused on sharing the practical experiences of the Latin American countries in the use of taxation as a tool for reducing inequality.

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July

CIAT was represented by the Director of Tax Studies and Research, Miguel Pecho, the Statistics and Data Base Coordinator, Julio Alberto López and the Head of the Permanent Mission of Spain before CIAT, Luis Cremades, who represented the Kingdom of Spain.

August

The First CIAT Meeting of Juridical Areas was held on August 5 to 7 in Lima Peru, under the main theme of “Codification in Ibero-America: A View from the Tax Administrations”. It was jointly organized with the National Superintendency of Customs and Tax Administration (SUNAT) of Peru with the sponsorship of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). The meeting was an opportunity for launching a new collaboration network; on this occasion, of law professionals from the National Tax Administrations who participate in the formulation of draft tax regulations, as well as in those which the Institution issues, interprets or gives its opinion. Likewise, it allowed for initiating the updating of the CIAT Tax Code Model. The participants included representatives from fifteen countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

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August

We are pleased to announce the opening of registrations for the XI edition of the International Master in Tax Administration and Public Finances. The Master is promoted by the Spanish Tax Administration (Institute of Fiscal Studies and State Tax Administration Agency), National University of Distance Education of Spain (UNED), the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the CEDDET Foundation and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID), as a collaboration program with the tax administrations of Latin American countries to improve their ability to design and implement tax policies

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The Master starts on November 18, 2013 and will run until July 3, 2015; it will be developed over two academic sessions and structured in 32 weeks online and two weeks on-site, and students also have to develop a Final Research Project at the end of the second academic year.

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.

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

August

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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. 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 to the visitants

August

August

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A "south-south exchange tour “on "massive control” was held on August 27 to 30, 2013 in Buenos Aires, based on the long-term experiences of the “Federal Administration of Public Revenue (AFIP) “of Argentina. Given the importance of this topic in terms of associated and transversal processes, a flexible program with multiple approaches was adopted, addressed by senior officials and work teams of the institution. This activity was attended by CIAT and tax administrations officials from Bolivia, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Spain, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay; they actively participated in the debates and presented their experiences on different aspects of the program .

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During the dates of August 29-30, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) hosted a seminar on International Taxation with the primary themes being the United States Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) and information on taxation issues in Latin America and the Caribbean. The latter being captured in the recent IADB publication titled “More than Revenue” and in the CIAT, IADB, CAPTAC-DR, joint publication on the “State of Tax Administration in Latin America 2006-2010.” The event took place at the IADB headquarters in Washington, DC and was co-sponsored by the IADB, US Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and CIAT. In attendance were over 50 senior tax administration, ministry of finance and government banking officials from Latin America and the Caribbean. Among CIAT member countries, present were the Director Generals from Barbados, Colombia, Costa Rica, Surinam and other officials.

From left to right: Moderator: Alberto Barreix: Principal Technical Leader, IFD/FMM – IADB; Brett York, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the International Tax Counsel, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury; Elena S. Virgadamo, Attorney-Advisor, Office of the International Tax Counsel, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury y Danielle E. Rolfes, International Tax Counsel, U.S. Dept. of the Treasury.

August

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From August 19 to 23, 2013, the CIAT held the second specialized technical advisory mission to the Tax Administration of Costa Rica, under the Eurosocial II program. Mrs. Isabelle Gaëtan, Head of the French Mission at CIAT and Mrs. Maria Raquel Ayala, CIAT Director of Training and Development of Human Talent, were responsible for this activity, which purpose was to review the progress of the four strategic aspects discussed in the first mission: reorganization of the human potential-training area, manual of courses and functions, evaluation on performance and productivity indexes, and telecommuting, according to the schedule established by the Administrative and the Ministry of Finance Directorate, leading the pilot Project on Strengthening Human Resources at the DGT of Costa Rica. In this phase of the mission sponsored by Eurosocial II in collaboration with the CIATs experiences have been essential and have enriched the study that the project team of officials from the Finance Ministry of Costa Rica is performing.

August

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Approximately two years ago, CIAT launched the Consultation System of Competent Authorities NATI “National Authorities for Tax Information”, through which consults on contact information related to competent authorities for the negotiation and/or application of agreements for the exchange of information and treaties to avoid double taxation can be made. To date, we have successfully treated more than 30 consults from our member countries.

The system has been specially designed to provide precise and 100% up to date information. The system is not a database, since we considered that option could suffer from a lack of frequent updates. Through NATI, each consult activates an internal process that allows the validation of the available information and access to new information, before presenting an answer. The average response time is 3 to 15 days.

August

September

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Within the framework of the international initiative "International Tax Compact (ITC)", CIAT implemented between January and June 2013 a support program for tax administrations based on 8 short-term technical assistances, mainly focused on the control of international operations and economic sectors, and to a lesser extent, on those aspects related to the application of technologies. The referred programs allowed following up the 2012 efforts, as part of the same initiative, through which 16 technical assistances were executed.

Within the framework of the international initiative "International Tax Compact (ITC)", CIAT implemented between January and June 2013 a support program for tax administrations based on 8 short-term technical assistances, mainly focused on the control of international operations and economic sectors, and to a lesser extent, on those aspects related to the application of technologies. The referred programs allowed following up the 2012 efforts, as part of the same initiative, through which 16 technical assistances were executed.

September

46

The 2013 CIAT Technical Conference took place this September 9 to 12, under the auspices of the Kenya Revenue Authority, on the topic: "Prevention and control of tax evasion." The technical sessions were held in the United Nations Building in Nairobi. The Conference was attended by a total of 50 delegations: 23 CIAT member countries, 14 invited countries, and 13 international organizations and institutions related to the CIAT.

September

47

On Sunday September 8, the day prior to the start of the CIAT Technical Conference, the Executive Council met in Nairobi, Kenya. This meeting mainly addressed the reports of activities and the budgetary execution of the current period as well as the audited financial statements of the previous period which ended on June 30 of this year.

Argentina chaired the meeting which was attended by the rep resen ta t i ves o f B raz i l , Canada, Chile, El Salvador, Netherlands and Uruguay. The Heads of the permanent missions of Spain, France and Italy at the CIAT were invited to this session.

September

48

The CIAT Executive Secretariat offers the International tax community, the Spanish version of a new study on "Transfer pricing manipulation Control in Latin America and the Caribbean". The English version will be available in the coming months.

This work has been possible thanks to financial support of GIZ from Germany within the imitative framework of the "International Tax Compact", information provided by twenty tax administrations of countries of America: AFIP of Argentina, YESN of Bolivia, SRF of Brazil, YESI of Chile, DIAN of Colombia, DGT of Costa Rica, SRI of Ecuador, DGII of El Salvador, SAT of Guatemala, DEI of Honduras, TAJ of Jamaica, SAT of Mexico, DGI of Nicaragua, DGI of Panama, SET of Paraguay, SUNAT of Peru, DGII of Dominican Republic, IRD of Trinidad and Tobago, DGI of Uruguay and SENIAT of Venezuela that have allowed us access to unpublished information on some of its processes related to the control of transfer pricing. In addition, this work has been enriched by contributions provided by the IDB, the World Bank and the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies (ICEFI) on best practices and visions associated with this complex and essential matter when protecting the domestic tax base.

September

49

Present in this event were delegates from the tax authorities of Africa, America, Asia and Europe, as well as representatives of regional organizations. The participating CIAT member countries were: Barbados, Bolivia, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Nicaragua, India, Peru, Saint Martin, Spain, Trinidad & Tobago and Uruguay. .

In recent years, CIAT has been organizing an additional activity upon the conclusion of its General Assemblies and Technical Conferences. This year, following the Technical Conference held in Nairobi, Kenya, a CIAT Seminar on “Regional Integration and Cooperation in the Tax Administration" was held on September 13, 2013, with the co-sponsorship of the World Bank – IFC, International Tax Compact – ITC and the African Tax Administration Forum – ATAF.

September

50

As a result of the collaboration among the "International Tax Compact " initiative, Germany’s GIZ and CIAT, it has been possible to conclude an unprecedented work for the international tax community, regarding the main effects of inflation on the processes of setting and adjustment of transfer prices. This work has been coordinated by CIAT’s Cooperation and International Cooperation Directorate, with experts from different countries in the region and the tax administrations from Chile, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and South Africa, that provided information on legal and procedural aspects. The objective of this exploratory work is to analyze if the most widely accepted methodologies in the world to determine if transfer prices are set among related parties according to market values, are appropriate when the company examined is located in a country that faces an inflationary economy.

September

51

From September 17 to 20, the Tax Administration Service (SAT) of Mexico and the Governmental Management of Public Revenues of the city of Buenos Aires (AGIP) met with the aim of exchanging experiences between the two agencies. The event was held at the SAT headquarters, located in Mexico City, Mexico. Dr. Teresa of Jesus Medina Mora Icaza, Advisor for Foreign Affair issues to the SAT, and Carlos Walter, head of the AGIP, conducted a brief explanation of the structure of each organization. Officials of the host country showed special interest in the developments related to some of the strategic pillars of the Governmental Management of Public Revenue (AGIP) such as the cultural change, the technological leap and the direct and online communication (web site). The knowledge and experience of the SAT, which has a more mature self-management experience than the AGIP, made it possible to generate synergies that clearly allowed detecting potential improvements and a consolidation in the relation and interaction with the residents/taxpayers.

September

52

Raul Zambrano, Director of Technical Assistance and Information Technology, and Francisco Beiner, Director of Operations and Institutional Management conducted this mission on September 24 to 27.

The CIAT Executive Secretariat conducted a technical mission to the Tax and Customs Directorate of Suriname to collect information for designing the Terms of Reference to the construction and implementation of a new internal taxes management integrated system. Based on this document, the Director of Revenue and Customs, Mr. Cornelis A. Van Dijk, and the Ministry of Finance of Suriname will present the project to the Inter-American Development Bank – IDB, for financing.

Raúl Zambrano y Francisco Beiner with Cornelis A. Van Dijk, Director of Taxes and Customs; Joan Veldhuizen, Chief-Inspector of Direct Taxes; and Carlos Wong, Chief-Collector of Direct Taxes.

53

The purpose of this seminar was to learn and share the best practices used by tax administrations regarding the comprehensive and systematic management of organizational strategy, from a perspective of continuous innovation. This activity was developed under the Training Program for the SRI officials of Ecuador, under the auspices of the Center for Fiscal Studies.

The Internal Revenue Service of Ecuador (SRI) in collaboration with the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) has held an international seminar on “Integrated Models of Management and Innovation in the Tax Administrations “in Quito, Ecuador, on September 26 and 27.

September

October

54

The “International Seminar on Fiscal Policy and Tax Administration” corresponding to the X edition of the International Master’s Program in Tax Administration and Public Finance was held on September 30 through October 4, 2013 in Santa Cruz de la Sierra (Bolivia). This is a specialized academic master’s program developed by the Institute of Fiscal Studies of Spain (IEF), the National Distance Education University (UNED), the Economic and Commercial Studies Center (CECO) and the CEDDET Foundation with the collaboration of the State Agency of Tax Administration (AEAT), the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) and the Spanish Agency of International Cooperation for Development (AECID). The event to which we are referring precisely coincides with the I Face-to-Face Seminar of the X edition of the International Master’s Program in Tax Administration and Public Finance. It affords the students of the Master’s Program an initial personal contact which promotes the exchange of experiences, mutual learning and enrichment at the human as well as technical levels. In addition, 4 specialists on the subjects from Spain developed the academic contents of the program.

Group photo

55

The CIAT Executive Secretariat has the honor to welcome this month the arrival of the GIZ Mission (Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Internationale Zusammenarbeit / German Agency for International Cooperation) from Germany. Our colleague Joerg Wisner was appointed as Head of Mission at the CIAT and various joint technical assistance activities on behalf of CIAT member countries will continue to be developed under the recent cooperation agreement between the CIAT and the GIZ.

October

56

In response to an invitation from the Fiscal Affairs Department of the International Monetary Fund, the Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio Verdi, participated in the Panel on “Tax Systems Under Pressure: Session 2 - Monitoring and Improving Compliance”, held on October 9, 2013 within the framework of the Fund’s annual meeting. In this panel the Executive Secretary, presented a paper on the Levels of Tax Evasion in Latin America and its Impact on the Sustainability of Public Finances. To conclude this session on tax issues, a panel was held with the participation of Mrs. Christine Lagarde, the Fund’s Director General and other authorities.

Mr. Márcio Ferreira Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary; Mr.Thulani Shongwe, Head, Multilateral Cooperation, African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF); Mr. Juan Toro, Assistant

Director, Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF; Mr. Eric Toder, Fellow, Urban Institute; Mr. Emmanuel Mathias, Senior Financial

Sector Expert, Legal Department, IMF

October

57

The Internal Revenue Service of Chile (SII) together with the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) and the German International Cooperation Agency (GIZ) held a regional exchange seminar on the control of large businesses and transfer pricing in Santiago de Chile on October 8-10, 2013. The participants in this activity were specialized officials from the tax administrations of Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru and Uruguay. Upon conclusion of the seminar, working groups were set up for analyzing the current context and determining possible initiatives which could be undertaken by CIAT with cooperation from the GIZ, for promoting the exchange between tax administrations and strengthening their capabilities.

Speaker: Gonzalo Arias, CIAT’s Director of Cooperation and International Taxation. Table: from left to right, Claudio Salcedo (Salcedo y Cía.), Tyriak Bruzual (E&Y), Rocío Crespillo (Deloitte), Roberto Rivas (PricewaterhouseCoopers) and Juan Pablo Guerrero (KPMG)

Group photo

October

58

The CIAT Executive Secretariat is pleased to make available to the My CIAT community the results of recent technical assistance carried out in countries in the region to measure tax transaction costs in small and medium enterprises and analyze possible causes for the social acceptance of tax non-compliance.

Thanks to the sponsorship of other international organizations and cooperating entities, from the year 2013 CIAT has been able to include as part of their Studies Program the development of researches based on the use of microdata. The use of microdata strengthens the causal analysis that can be carried out on the topics under investigation. In particular, those collected through surveys are useful to capture social perceptions. For the tax authorities, this information is certainly valuable to better target their efforts. The CIAT Executive Secretariat will continue promoting the use of surveys to measure aspects such as the taxpayer satisfaction with the services provided by the tax administration or the costs of tax compliance, and to capture social insights that allow understanding the possible causes for the social acceptance of tax non-compliance in Latin America. .

October

59

The top level authorities of the Secretariat of Finance, including consultants, coordinators and directors, participated on Wednesday October 23rd, at the Egefaz Auditorium in the presentation of the terms of the agreement between SEFAZ-TO and the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations - CIAT, for the execution of the PMAT-TO Modernization project of the Tocantins Tax Administration. The Executive Secretary, Ramon Garcia Queiroz, who represented the Secretary of Finance, Marcelo Olímpio, at the event, said it was a great to the satisfaction have signed the Agreement which will drive forward the PROFISCO/TO. "Today we are concerned about the shortcomings of the financial and tax systems, but with CIAT´s , presence and everyone´s participation in the process we will move forward to improve our services”, Ramon said.

Márcio Ferreira Verdi, CIAT Executive Secretary, said that the purpose is to promote cooperation and best practices, through technical assistance and training in the tax area. "Our spirit is collaboration. We do not have ready - made projects ready and what we will do here is work together as partners in the tax area," Verdi said.

October

60

In the collaboration framework between CIAT and GIZ from Germany, on October 29 to 31 of the current year, a study visit to SAT of Mexico took place, with the purpose of benefitting from SAT’s wide experience in the field of controlling the abusive manipulation of transfer pricing.

This action was carried out with the participation of officials of the international control areas from the tax administrations of Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile and Guatemala..

In the past three years, we have seen significant progress by several Latin American countries. These countries have not only implemented and adjusted standards to regulate transfer pricing, but have also implemented administrative structures and processes enabling to achieve good results in the control field. This cooperation action aimed to follow the aforementioned evolution that several Latin American countries have achieved in the area and which is complemented with other efforts made in recent years by CIAT’s Executive Secretariat within the scope of the EUROsociAL Program, GIZ from Germany and the "International Tax Compact".

October

Event’s official photo.

November

61

the XVI CeATS Technical Conference was held on November 7 and 8 in the City of Cordoba, Argentina. The purpose of these meetings is to exchange experiences, mutual collaboration and technical assistance between the municipalities in Argentina and abroad.

Over 180 officials representing various subnational tax administrations will discuss: “The Perception of Risk: generation of significant and lasting actions”. The main focus will be on voluntary compliance at two levels: medium and long-term by taking into account the development of tax awareness and culture and within short term, the generation of the sense of risk.

The participation of the CIAT Executive Secretary and the Director of International Cooperation and Taxation, Márcio Ferreira Verdi and Gonzalo Arias, respectively, is framed within the cooperation agreement signed last year between this organization and the Center of Subnational Tax Administrations (CeATS), for the purpose of coordinating agendas in areas of common interest, thereby allowing for achieving synergies as a result of carrying out joint activities and sharing knowledge and ideas, among other things.

Photo caption, left to right: Carlos Walter, President of CeATS and Government Administrator of Public Income (AGIP) of CABA; Marcio Ferreira Verdi, Executive Secretary of CIAT; and Carlos Rubinstein, General Collection Sub-Director of the General Revenue Directorate (DGR)

62

After stimulating presentations by Mr.Oscar Vazquez ( CAPTAC - RD ) , Patricio Barra ( Chile) , Johannes Carrasco Procel ( Ecuador ) and Leiner Vargas Alfaro ( Costa Rica ), the participants discussed the theoretical and practical requirements for strategic planning in their institutions . The participating countries presented the status of their strategic planning development, sharing practical experiences. They discussed the importance of having an adequate strategy and consistent indicators to meet the goals of the strategic plan. They concluded that “less is more " and that it is preferable to focus on few but well-chosen indicators.

Sponsored by the Tax projects from the German Cooperation GIZ of El Salvador, Guatemala, the CIAT and the CAPTAC – RD, agents from the planning divisions of the tax and finance administrations of Costa Rica, Guatemala , Honduras and Nicaragua met in Antigua, Guatemala , from 4 to 6 November 2013.

November

63

This November 21 to 22, 2013, the CIAT Executive Secretary Mr. Marcio Verdi participated to the Sixth Meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes which took place in Jakarta, Indonesia. The Global Forum brings together 121 countries and jurisdictions for wide-ranging discussions on transparency and exchange of information. Its sixth meeting attracted more than 200 delegates from 86 member jurisdictions and 11 international organizations.

November

64

The German Cooperation Agency GIZ, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and the Deputy Minister of Internal Administration and Systems Development of Guatemala, carried out on November 18 in Antigua, Guatemala, a workshop on Environmental Accounts and Environmental Tax Reform, based on the experience of Guatemala, which is one of the first countries in Latin America that has implemented them.

Officials of international organizations such as the World Bank and the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies - ICEFI, participated in the workshop together with national institutions such as the Research and Social Studies Association - ASIES, the Planning and programming Secretariat of the Presidency - SEGEPLAN, the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of the environment, the Comptroller-General of Guatemala, and other national institutions of Guatemala.

November

65

A “South-South exchange” visit about units and procedures for the exchange of tax information was held on November 12 to 15, 2013 in the city of Buenos Aires, mainly based on the experience capitalized over the years by the Federal Administration of public income of Argentina (AFIP). Officials from the tax administrations of Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala and Peru, who actively participated in the discussions and presented their experiences in different aspects of the program, took part in the visit. Among the issues discussed were the TIEAs negotiation processes, the management and the modalities for the information exchange, the tax and customs agreements network, the legal framework and instruments for the Exchange and the use of public information, among others. The CIAT also presented its Project on the availability of tax-related public information in Latin American countries. .

Participants Speaker: Gonzalo Arias, CIAT’s Director of Cooperation and International Taxation.

November

66

The Second Workshop on the Measurement of Tax Transaction Costs (TTC) in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) was held in Panama on November 20 and 21, as part of the activities of the CIAT project for Strengthening the Institutional Capacities of National Tax Administrations (NTAs) and the United Nations Department of Economic and Social of the Affairs UN-DESA. ATNs Delegates from 13 Latin American countries and representatives of institutions such as IFC, ECLAC, SYNAPSIS and SEBRAE participated in the event which was a good opportunity to present the results of the measurements carried out in Costa Rica and Uruguay, and to learn about the progress of the measurement being done in Brazil. The workshop also allowed us to identify topics for future researches in the TTC field which may complement the project efforts.

The implementation of the project was conducted by the CIAT Tax Studies and Research Directorate with the participation of international consultants Byron Vasconez (in charge), Marcel Ramírez and Eduardo Ibarra.

November

67

From left to right: Mayra Ninoshka Mercado (SIN), Victor Navalpotro Laina (AECID) and Luis Cremades Ugarte (CIAT)

On November 18 to 22, the CIAT in partnership with the Spanish Agency for tax administration and the Institute of Fiscal studies of Spain, with the support of the National Tax Service of Bolivia (SIN) and the AECID, carried out a training course on ‘Quality Management in Tax Administrations’. The purpose of this course was to address quality management based on a conceptual approach, given its dimension in public service field and more specifically, by analyzing its practical application in tax administrations management. This activity was carried out at the AECID offices in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, in presence of officials from the tax authorities of Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, Uruguay and Bolivia, who participated in the different sessions and workshops offered. D. Luis Cremades Ugarte (head of the Spanish Mission in the CIAT), D. Roberto Serrano López and D. Alejandro Luelmo Fernández (inspectors of the service of internal audit at AEAT) were speakers of this course and also participated as instructors.

Working session

November

December

68

During the week of December 2nd the International Tax Dialogue (ITD) held its 5th Global Conference in the City of Marrakech. The theme of this year’s Conference was “Tax and Intergovernmental Relations.” he CIAT organization is an ITD partner and it was represented at by its Executive Secretary, Márcio F. Verdi and Director of Planning and Institutional Development, Socorro Velázquez. There was a significant presence of tax officials from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Show in the picture, is the CIAT Executive Secretary, Mr. Márcio F. Verdi making his presentation.

Senior tax policymakers and administrators from across the world met to discuss how authority to set and collect taxes should be allocated across different levels of national government to ensure accountability, efficiency and economic stability. This is the first time that the revenue aspect of decentralization has taken center stage at a global level to allow countries to debate key questions about who should tax what and share good practices and experiences.

69

This seminar on exchange of information for tax purposes was held this December 9 to 13, at the Multilateral Tax Centre of the OECD in Mexico; its primary purpose was to assist the ministries of Finance and the tax administrations of Latin America and the Caribbean in the implementation of the appropriate legal and administrative framework for the effective implementation of information exchange. The seminar included participants from the tax authorities of Antigua and Barbuda, Chile, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Jamaica, Mexico and Uruguay. The expert panel was composed of representatives from the CIAT, the OECD, the Global Forum on Transparency and Information Exchange, the AEAT of Spain, the Guardia di Finanza of Italy and the SAT of Mexico.

December

70

CIAT Executive Secretariat was invited as speaker by Vienna University of Economics and Business in the framework of the Seminar on “Multilateralism and the shift towards global tax governance and fiscal transparency” (December 11 to 13) CIAT perspective on topic of SESSION 5 “IMPROVING BUSINESS ACCOUNTABILITY AND THE MOVE TO COOPERATIVE COMPLIANCE” was presented by Francisco J. Beiner. The Seminar -organized by Prof. Jeffrey Owens, Director of the Global Tax Policy Center at the Institute for Austrian International Tax Law- invited also to IMF, European Commission and the OECD.

Prof. Eric Zolt - UCLA; Jeffrey Owens – WU; Philip Kermode, European Commission; F.J. Beiner – CIAT; and Theo Poolen, Netherland Tax and Custom Administration.

December

71

It is a pleasure to announce that the English version of the study produced as a result of the collaboration between the “International Tax Compact” initiative, the German Cooperation Agency (GIZ ) and CIAT, on the General Aspects of the Effects of Inflation in the Transfer Pricing Determination and Adjustment Processes is now available.

This work has been coordinated by CIAT’s Cooperation and International Cooperation Directorate, with experts from different countries in the region and the tax administrations from Chile, Spain, Mexico, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay and South Africa, that provided information on legal and procedural aspects. The objective of this exploratory work is to analyze if the most widely accepted methodologies in the world to determine if transfer prices are set among related parties according to market values, are appropriate when the company examined is located in a country that faces an inflationary economy.

" General Aspects of the Effects of Inflation in the Transfer Pricing Determination and Adjustment

Processes”

December

72

During the first year of implementation of the EUROsociAL II Program, CIAT, as an operative partner for Latin-America, in coordination with the FIIAPP, the AEAT and the Institute of Fiscal Studies of Spain, have carried out nine activities on a South-South basis, within the framework of the Action called “Voluntary Compliance with Tax Obligations” of the “Public Finance” Area of such Program.

These activities counted on the participation of 13 countries in Latin America (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay), have been mostly developed under the modalities of exchange visits, specialized consultancies, meeting and training course. Among the main topics which have been requested to the program by tax administrations as strategic priorities .

December

73

Tax revenues in Latin American countries continue to rise but are lower as a proportion of their national incomes than in most OECD countries. The publication Revenue Statistics in Latin America 1990-2012 (third edition) shows that the average tax revenue to GDP ratio in the 18 Latin American and Caribbean countries covered by the report[1] increased steadily from 18.9% in 2009 to 20.7% in 2012 after falling from a high point of 19.5% in 2008. The report, produced jointly by the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) and the OECD, launched during the XXVI Regional Seminar on Fiscal Policy, on which is being held at ECLAC headquarters in Santiago, Chile. It shows that the tax to GDP ratio rose significantly across Latin American and the Caribbean over the past two decades – from 13.9% of GDP in 1990 to 20.7% of GDP in 2012. But the tax to GDP ratio is still 14 percentage points below the OECD average of 34.6%. Wide national variations exist across Latin American countries. At the upper end are Argentina (37.3%) and Brazil (36.3%), which are both above the OECD average, while at the lower end are Guatemala (12.3%) and Dominican Republic (13.5%). The corresponding range in OECD countries was from 48.0% in Denmark to 19.6% in Mexico.

LATIN AMERICA: TAX REVENUES CONTINUE TO RISE, BUT ARE LOW AND VARIED AMONG COUNTRIES, ACCORDING TO NEW OECD-ECLAC-CIAT REPORT

Argentina and Brazil have the highest tax revenue to GDP ratio, while Guatemala and Dominican Republic stand at the lower end.

December

74

Within the framework of the “International Tax Compact” initiative and with the financial support of the GIZ of Germany, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT) coordinated a short-term technical assistance program, thereby giving continuity to the efforts initiated in 2012 by said organizations. To date, 36 support actions have been carried out in priority areas of the Latin American and Caribbean tax administrations. The aforementioned program took place between November and December 2013, and dealt mainly with the following issues which, in turn, are closely interrelated:

o! Examination of economic sectors, o! Control of international operations and harmful international tax planning

and, o! Tax intelligence.

December

75

•! Preparation of Masters and PhD degrees for the Tax Training center •! Implementation of Structure and Management by Competences •! Platform for Distance Training in cooperation with the IEF

Preparation of Masters and PhD degrees for the Tax Training center Ecuador

•! Modernization Project Modernization Project Panama

•! Maranhão. New model of management and collection •! Maranhão. Management by competences

Maranhão. New model of management and collection Brazil

•! Production of new invoicing system Production of new invoicing system Paraguay

•!Revision of reference terms Revision of reference terms Suriname

75 •! Follow-up to the System of Modernization Follow-up to the System of Modernization Barbados - (BB)

76

•! Assistance to the Municipality of Bogota

Colombia:

•! Tocantin. Program of integral management and definition of information systems.

Brazil

76 •! Improvements to banking collection system •! Implementation of tax reforms.

Paraguay

77

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80 Total students ! 571 Total students ! 571 571