Weekly Round-Up

During the past week:

  • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announced that Panama became the 98th jurisdiction to sign the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement
  • The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released Country Report No. 18/11 on the Republic of Tanzania
  • EY's Global Tax Alert focused on the Argentinian Government's comprehensive tax reform

Weekly Round-Up

Our best wishes for a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2018! This week featured:

  • The release of the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations' (IOTA) summary report from the 2nd Annual International Conference "Tax Governance and Data Security"
  • The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) announcing that Mongolia joined the Inclusive Framework on BEPS as the 111th member.

Update on Tax Reform in the Philippines

The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act (TRAIN) is the first tax reform package of President Rodrigo Duterte's Comprehensive Tax Reform Program. In its current form, the TRAIN bill will reduce personal income tax rates, address personal income tax "bracket creep,” amend the estate tax, expand the value-added tax base, and remove a number of exemptions currently contained in the value-added tax. It also calls for increased taxes on fuel, new vehicles and coal, and introduces a new tax on sweetened beverages and cosmetics.

Digital Revolutions in Public Finance: A New Book by the IMF

With funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its latest book, entitled, “Digital Revolutions in Public Finance," at a launch event in Washington, DC on 7 November. The book, edited by Sanjeev Gupta, Michael Keen, Alpa Shah and Geneviève Verdier, captures the research originally presented at the Digital Revolutions in Public Finance Forum held during the IMF-World Bank Spring Meetings in April 2017, and focuses on the opportunities offered by digital transformation and the issues which must be confronted in implementing such initiatives in both developed and developing countries.  During the book launch, the panel made a clear distinction between the process of digitization, putting old processes online, and using technology to transform the processes (making life easier for governments, business, and individual citizens). With digitalization being the desired outcome, the book illustrates various government finance initiatives and best practices from around the world.