OECD: Impact of the International Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation
On 22 September 2022 the OECD published an impact assessment of the International Academy for Tax and Financial Crime Investigation, based on an assessment carried out in 2021. The assessment looked at the impact on tax officials and on national tax
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OECD: Practical Guide on Capacity Building
On 7 September 2022 the OECD published a report on Tax Capacity Building: A Practical Guide to Developing and Advancing Tax Capacity Building Programmes. The report looks at considerations to be taken into account in formulating a tax capacity
See MoreUK: HMRC exercises new powers to combat electronic sales fraud
On 31 May 2022 HMRC announced that a number of businesses had been visited and some arrests made following the introduction of new powers to combat the use of electronic sales suppression (ESS) systems. Around 30 businesses, including including
See MoreUK: Research on Benefits of Money Service Businesses
On 9 May 2022 the UK government published the results of research commissioned by HMRC to understand the economic and social benefits of the Money Service Business (MSB) sector in the UK. MSBs are businesses that allow customers to send money,
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OECD: Assessing Tax Compliance and Illicit Financial Flows in South Africa
On 25 April 2022 the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration issued jointly with South Africa’s National Treasury a publication entitled Assessing Tax Compliance and Illicit Financial Flows in South Africa. Achieving the
See MoreEU: Pressure on member states to revise CBI/RBI schemes
Recently there has been increased pressure on European Union (EU) member states to scale back their schemes offering citizenship or residence in return for financial contributions. This reflects heightened security concerns in view of the current
See MoreUK: Finance Act 2022 receives Royal Assent
On 25 February 2022 the UK Finance Act 2022 received the Royal Assent. The Act includes a number of further measures to combat promoters of tax avoidance schemes. HMRC powers HMRC is being given the power to present a winding-up petition to
See MoreOECD: Building Effective Beneficial Ownership Frameworks
In November 2021 the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in collaboration with the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), published a toolkit on Building Effective Beneficial Ownership
See MoreUK: Further Penalties for Promoters of Tax Avoidance
The UK budget announcements on 27 October 2021 included measures targeting persistent promoters and enablers of tax avoidance schemes. The proposals aim to facilitate the process for taxpayers to identify and exit avoidance schemes. This follows
See MoreOECD: Tax and Fiscal Policy after the Pandemic
The OECD prepared a separate report entitled Tax and Fiscal Policy After the COVID-19 Crisis for the meeting of G20 Finance Ministers on 13 October 2021. This report was included as an attachment to the main report to the Finance Ministers. The
See MoreUK: Tax Gap Statistics Published
On 16 September 2021 the UK government released the latest edition of Measuring Tax Gaps, estimating the tax gap for 2019/20 to be 5.3% of total theoretical tax liabilities, or GBP 35 billion. The tax gap is the difference between the tax that
See MoreIMF: Focus on the Informal Economy
On 28 July 2021 the IMF published a country focus setting out facts on the informal economy. Activities with market value that are not formally registered The informal economy includes various activities such as minibus drivers, market stands
See MoreSouth Africa: Call for comments regarding 2021 draft Tax Bills
On 28 July 2021, the National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service (SARS) have invited the public to comment by no later than 28 August 2021 on the second batch of the 2021 Draft Taxation Laws Amendment Bill and 2021 Draft Tax
See MoreUK: Powers to tackle electronic sales suppression
On 20 July 2021 the UK issued draft legislation and an explanatory note on new powers to deal with tax evasion through the use of electronic sales suppression (ESS). This is aimed at businesses that undertake ESS to hide or reduce the value of
See MoreUK: New proposals to combat the promotion of tax avoidance schemes
On 20 July 2021 the UK government published for consultation new proposals aiming to restrict the activities of promoters of tax avoidance schemes, together with draft legislation. The consultation will close on 14 September 2021. The government
See MoreUK: HMRC investigates the use of business support schemes
It was reported on 28 June 2021 that the UK tax authority HMRC has begun around 13,000 investigations concerning the use of the UK coronavirus business support schemes. The investigations relate to fraud and other breaches of rules. It is
See MoreUK: Summary of responses to call for evidence on tackling disguised remuneration
On 23 March 2021 the UK government published a summary of responses to a call for evidence on tackling disguised remuneration tax avoidance. The consultation which ran from 21 July 2020 to 30 September 2020 asked for information on the drivers
See MoreOECD Tax Talk Reviews Recent Developments
The OECD Tax Talk on 4 March 2021 provided updates on important areas of OECD tax work. Taxation of the Digital Economy Countries have recognised the need to further simplify the proposals in Pillar One of the taxation of the digital economy
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