ITIC’s Redesigned Website!
As we celebrate ITIC's 25th year of promoting tax and investment reforms in developing countries, we're pleased to showcase our redesigned website: https://www.iticnet.org, which we hope you will agree reflects how far we've come since our founding in 1993.
We've also better integrated ITIC's blog into the site: https://www.iticnet.org/blog. We plan to continue using our blog to post new articles by ITIC Advisors, as well as previous copies of the ITICnet.org Weekly Round-Up and relevant news items for ITIC stakeholders.
Be sure to also stay up-to-date on our work by following us on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
We look forward to your feedback!
IMF Releases Measuring the Digital Economy Policy Paper
Yesterday, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a new Policy Paper on "Measuring the Digital Economy."
The paper focuses on macroeconomic and financial statistics as it explores the measurement challenges posed by digitalization. It also analyzes core players in the digital sector, including online platforms, platform-enabled services, and ICT suppliers. [Full Paper]
OECD Publishes New Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the second edition Implementation Handbook on the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters "to assist government officials in the implementation of the 'Standard' and to provide a practical overview...to both the financial sector and public at-large."
The second edition of the Handbook provides "additional and more up-to-date guidance on certain areas related to the effective implementation of the Standard...includ[ing] revisions to sections pertinent to the legal framework for implementation of the AEOI, data protection, IT and administrative infrastructures as well as compliance measures." [More Information]
Digital Tax Proposals and the Impact on Business
In his recent article, How Might Your Business Be Taxed Under Current Digital Tax Proposals?, Will Morris (PwC Deputy Global Tax Policy Leader) summarized "the non-tax technical details of some of the [digital taxation] proposals that have been made, particularly, but not exclusively, in Europe." [Full Article]
IMF Releases Iran Country Report
At the end of March, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released Country Report No. 18/93 for the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the Executive Board's Press Release following the IMF mission, Staff Report, Informational Annex, and a Statement by the Executive Director. [More Information]
New World Bank Policy Research Working Paper on Taxation and the Shadow Economy
The World Bank Group recently released Policy Research Working Paper 8391, entitled "Taxation and the Shadow Economy: How the Tax System Can Stimulate and Enforce the Formalization of Business Activities" by Rajul Awasthi and Michael Engelschalk. [Full Paper]
Abstract: "Cash transactions for goods and services in which no receipts are issued greatly increase the risk of tax evasion. Despite the availability of banking services and alternative payment, key sectors of the economy remain largely cash-based in almost all developing countries. This paper shows the apparent strong negative correlation between the use of electronic or formal payments and the size of the shadow economy and reviews the approaches used by tax policy makers and administrators to achieve better control of cash transactions. It argues that the many new and sometimes innovative approaches developed to support the formalization of cash transactions will have little impact on the shadow economy if applied in isolation. A successful strategy to tax cash economy businesses and transactions requires a holistic approach to compliance management in which traditional monitoring and enforcement tools, such as enabling tax administrations to access taxpayer data and match information from various public and private sources, play a key role."
IMF Completes Staff Visit to Thailand
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) recently completed a staff visit to Bangkok for its 2018 Article IV Consultation. Although Thailand's economy grew roughly 3.9 percent last year, the IMF staff noted that "Growth, however, has not been broad-based, and export gains have not sufficiently trickled down to household incomes and investments in other sectors. The current account surplus remains large as structural factors, such as economic transformation and aging, continued to weigh down on domestic demand. The growth momentum is expected to continue in 2018-19 albeit with an unbalanced composition." [More Information]