News from the Executive Director, Dr. Esther A. P. Koisin

The verdict has been delivered - the 37^th CATA Technical Conference was a resounding success. The results of the post Conference evaluation indicate that for the majority of delegates, the Barbados event exceeded expectations both in terms of the technical content but also in the area of logistics.

That the 2016 Conference was being held in Barbados had important significance for the Association. Even as delegates trooped into Bridgetown in November, many were scarcely aware that they were making a pilgrimage to a country where the idea of a Commonwealth-wide tax organization was conceived. It was 39 years ago in 1977 during a meeting of the Commonwealth Ministers of Finance in Barbados when a decision for such an organization was reached. One year later, on the 23^rd May 1978, the CATA Constitution was formally adopted, with Barbados being one of the 23 founder member countries.

With a modest total population of under 300,000

The G20 leaders have set the deadline for the countries “including all financial centres and jurisdictions………to commit without delay to implementing the standards of automatic exchange of information by 2018 at the latest”. In a communique issued after their meeting in Hangzhou, China on 5^th September, the leaders called for countries to “sign and ratify the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax matters”.

While endorsing the ongoing work by the OECD

A total of 32 delegates from around the Commonwealth have successfully completed their six-week summer residential training programmes ("ALP" and "CTAC") in the UK. The participants, who this year also included delegates from Ethiopia and Egypt, presented their closing project papers to a panel attended by the Chairman of HMRC Mr Edward Troupe, senior officials of the HMRC and CATA's Executive Director.

The delegates were subsequently the principal guests at an evening cocktail reception hosted on

(Left: some participants at the workshop on “cooperative compliance” in Vienna)

The project is an integral part of the Tax and Good Governance project, an initiative launched by the WU Global Tax Policy Centre in April 2015 in co-operation with the African Tax Institute (ATI) at the University of Pretoria’s Faculty of Economic and Management Sciences.  The project is aimed at creating a neutral platform for all interested stakeholders:  academia, business,

(Left: Justin Zake- Chief of Unit, TADAT Secretariat)

The uptake of the Tax Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT) continues to rise with a number of countries being involved in the training of TADAT Assessors. The framework that gives a 360-degree view of tax administration- based on nine (9) key Performance Outcome Areas (POAs)- has also been embraced by many development partner agencies as a critical tool for identifying existing gaps in tax administration and thereby assisting in designing and targeting the appropriate interventions.  During a recent visit to CATA offices in London, the Chief of Unit and Head of TADAT Secretariat Mr Justin Zake

 (Left: Executive Director with Senior IBFD researchers led by Prof van Kommer (R)

The Executive Director recently paid a visit to the headquarters of the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD) in The Netherlands and held a meeting with senior researchers of the institution led by Prof Victor van Kommer. CATA has a long standing relationship with the IBFD whose researchers have served as resource persons in various CATA conferences. The team discussed the ongoing technical assistance work that IBFD was undertaking in various part of the world, especially in Africa and the need for collaboration with CATA in some of these initiatives. One particular area identified was the IBFD work on Tax Treaties where the institution has done elaborate research

In furtherance of the BEPS Action 8-10 (Aligning Transfer Pricing with value creation), the OECD has issued draft guidance on the revised Profit Split Method for public comment and input. Comments are invited on the OECD discussion draft and these should be submitted by email to transferpricing@oecd.org by 5^th September 2016.

Transfer pricing remains a challenge to many tax administrations, more so within the Commonwealth where

Senior officials from various Commonwealth small states recently held a round table discussion in London to reflect on the implication of the “Panama Papers”.  As these states have been identified as key International Financial Centres (IFCs), there has been increased international focus on their role in the current international debate on tax evasion (and tax avoidance), money laundering and other financial crimes. A number of these states appear in the EU Blacklist of 2015 and have also been identified as “jurisdictions of relevance” by the G20 for the purpose of the new standards of Automatic Exchange of Tax Information.

(Photo courtesy of the Commonwealth Secretariat)

The meeting that was convened by the Commonwealth Secretariat with the input and participation of CATA discussed,

The 20^th edition of the Workshop on Taxation of International Transactions or TOIT as it is commonly known was successfully concluded on 27 May 2016. This three-week programme hosted annually by the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (IRBM) at the Malaysian Tax Academy (MTA) commenced on 9 May 2016. TOIT was first introduced in 1997 covering two weeks on treaty interpretation, application and practical negotiation with another one week on transfer pricing. The issues discussed have been kept up-to-date over the years with the latest developments both at the OECD and UN level.

A total of 26 participants from 14 member countries, namely Fiji, Ghana, India, Kenya, Kiribati, Malawi, Maldives, Mauritius, Rwanda, Seychelles, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland and host Malaysia participated in the workshop this year.

The resource persons for this workshop were drawn from