ITICnet.org Weekly Round-Up 23 February

Capacity Building Workshop Held in Tanzania

Earlier this week, ITIC joined with the Tanzania Revenue Authority to hold a "Capacity Building Workshop on Taxation in the Extractive Industry" for approximately 60 public- and private-sector participants in Dar es Salaam. Among the items discussed were the forthcoming UN Committee of Experts on Tax  Handbook on Extractives Industry Taxation  and the ITIC "Principles for Developing Country Hydrocarbon Investment Policies."

Platform for Collaboration on Tax Releases Conference Statement

Last week, the Platform for Collaboration on Tax held its first global conference on "Taxation and the Sustainable Development Goals" in New York City. At the conclusion of the conference, the Platform partners (International Monetary Fund, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, United Nations, and World Bank) released a "Conference Statement," citing areas of ongoing and future work. The full Conference Statement is available here .

European Parliament Committee Approves New EU Corporate Tax Plan

The European Parliament Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs recently approved the creation of “a single, clear and fair EU corporate tax regime.” These new proposals also "include benchmarks to determine whether a firm has a ‘digital presence’ within an EU member state which might make it liable for tax even if it does not have a fixed place of business in that country." [ Press Release]

UN Tax Committee Report

The UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters recently published its report on the 15th session, held in Geneva on 17-20 October 2017. One of the more significant outcomes was the creation of a Subcommittee on Tax Challenges Related to the Digitalization of the Economy, which will be headed by Nigerian tax administrator Babatunde Fowler and Aart Roelofsen, an international tax policy advisor at the Netherlands Ministry of Finance. The official " Report on the fifteenth session " is available on the UN website.

South Africa Proposes VAT Rate Increase

The National Treasury of the Republic of South Africa announced its proposal to increase the VAT rate from 14 to 15 percent, the first such increase since 1993.  More information on the 2018-19 budget, including updated draft regulations, can be found here .

Serbia Joins Inclusive Framework on BEPS

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced earlier this week that Serbia has become the 112th member to sign the Inclusive Framework on BEPS. More information, including the full list of all countries and jurisdictions, is available on the OECD website .

IMF Staff Concludes Mission to Turkey

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a Staff Concluding Statement of the 2018 Article IV Mission to Turkey, noting that "growth recovered sharply last year with the help of policy stimulus and favorable external conditions. Such has been the strength of the recovery that the economy now faces signs of overheating: a positive output gap, inflation well above target, and a wider current account deficit." [ Full Statement ]