ITICnet.org Weekly Round-Up 1 June

ITIC Holds Official Meetings in Uzbekistan

Earlier this week, Mukhit Akhanov (President of ITIC Kazakhstan) traveled to Tashkent to meet with Dmitriy Lee, First Deputy Director of the National Agency of Project Management of the Republic of Uzbekistan, to discuss ITIC assistance on Uzbekistan’s tax and regulatory reforms to improve the country's investment climate.

Paraguay Joins OECD Multilateral Convention

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) recently announced that Paraguay has become the 119th jurisdiction to sign the  Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters , "the world's leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating cross-border tax evasion." [ More Information ]

IMF Article IV Consultations

Brazil Following the recent Article IV Consultation Mission with Brazil, the IMF released the  Staff Concluding Statement , noting that a "path of strong, balanced and durable growth requires an earnest pursuit of fiscal consolidation, ambitious structural reforms, and a strengthening of the financial sector architecture." [ Full Statement ] China A team of IMF experts recently visited Beijing and Shenzhen to conduct the "annual Article IV review of the Chinese economy" and meet with "senior officials from the government, the People's Bank of China, private sector representatives, and academics." [ End-of-Mission Press Release ] Qatar Earlier this month, the IMF Executive Board concluded the 2018 Article IV Consultation with Qatar, stating that "considerable buffers and sound macroeconomic policies have helped Qatar successfully absorb shocks from lower hydrocarbon prices and the diplomatic rift with some countries in the region." [ Continue reading ] Bahrain The IMF recently completed an Article IV Consultation Mission to Bahrain, concluding that "a credibly large fiscal adjustment is a priority." The team's End-of-Mission press release noted that "the implementation of a value-added tax, as planned, would be important [and that] "additional revenue measures -- including consideration of a corporate income tax -- would be welcome." [ Continue reading ]

OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines

MNEtax.com recently featured an article by former OECD Transfer Pricing Unit Head Andrew Hickman entitled, "Improving the OECD transfer pricing guidance on intragroup services." [ Full article ] Public comments on revisions to Chapter IV (administrative approaches) and Chapter VII (intra-group services) of the OECD's  Transfer Pricing Guidelines  are invited by 20 June. [ More Information ]

Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulation Endorsed by IMF

A new proposal for the Core Principles for Islamic Finance Regulation (CPIFR) was recently endorsed by the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). "The CPIFR are intended to provide a set of core principles for the regulation and supervision of the Islamic banking industry and are designed to take into consideration the specificities of Islamic banks." [ Continue reading ]

WCO Participates in Astana Economic Forum

The World Customs Organization (WCO) recently reported on its participation in the "Ministerial Meeting on Trade and Transport and 11th session of the Astana Economic Forum held on 16-17 May 2018 in Astana, Kazakhstan." The Ministerial meeting,  Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Landlocked Developing Countries through Connectivity and Trade Facilitation , focused on the "impact of high trade and transit costs resulting from the lack of territorial access to the sea, isolation, and remoteness from world markets" and "how to reduce such high costs and improve the export competitiveness of the LLDCs." [ More Information ]

EU Council Adopts Directive on Mandatory Automatic Exchange of Tax Information

The Council of the European Union recently adopted a new amendment for Directive 2011/16/EU "with respect to mandatory automatic exchange of information in the field of taxation in relation to reportable cross-border arrangements."  More information can be found in EY's 29 May 2018 " Global Tax Alert ."

WCO and EAC Collaborate on AEO Expertise

The World Customs Organization (WCO) and East African Community (EAC) recently completed the second phase of a new training program related to the validation and post-validation processes for 19 AEO experts from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. [ More Information ]

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