Tax and fiscal policy responses are playing a critical role in limiting the hardship caused by containment measures, and should continue to do so as governments seek to support households and businesses, protect employment and pursue economic recovery from the global pandemic, according to new OECD analysis.
As we navigate through this global crisis, one of the few certainties is that tax policy will play an important role in the immediate response of governments to support individuals and businesses, as well as in future rounds of policy action, including to rebuild our economies, which will ultimately take place once the health crisis has been contained.
These suggestions are not recommendations but are intended to assist administrations globally in their consideration of appropriate measures in their own national contexts to help taxpayers during this difficult period.
Tax revenues in advanced economies reached a plateau during 2018, with almost no change seen since 2017, according to new OECD research. This ends the trend of annual increases in the tax-to-GDP ratio seen since the financial crisis.
A regional meeting on tax and digitalisation for Asia and the Pacific , co-hosted by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), took place in Manila, the Philippines on 19-20 November 2019.
Taxing polluting sources of energy is an effective way to curb emissions that harm the planet and human health, and the income generated can be used to ease the low-carbon transition for vulnerable households. Yet 70% of energy-related CO2 emissions from advanced and emerging economies are entirely untaxed, offering little incentive to move to cleaner energy, according to a new OECD report.
TIWB will release its Annual Report 2018/19 on Tuesday, 24 September 2019 at 12:00 EST/18:00 CEST.
Tax Morale: What Drives People and Businesses to Pay Tax? assesses the various drivers behind voluntary compliance with tax obligations, particularly in developing countries where issues of governance are more acute.
Tax Policy Reforms 2019 describes the latest tax reforms across all OECD countries, as well as in Argentina, Indonesia and South Africa. The report identifies major tax policy trends and highlights that fewer countries have introduced comprehensive tax reform packages in 2019 compared to previous years.
Tax-to-GDP ratios increased in the majority of Asian and Pacific economies covered by a new OECD report published today. Nine of the economies in the publication increased their tax-to-GDP ratios between 2016 and 2017, compared with only three in the preceding year, according to Revenue Statistics in Asian and Pacific Economies 2019.
This paper analyses the tax treatment of different employment forms for a set of eight countries: Argentina, Australia, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. The analysis includes labour income taxes, capital income taxes, social contributions, and non-tax compulsory payments.
As part of OECD Integrity Week 2019 (18-22 March), this event will bring together international experts to discuss these issues of integrity, transparency and trust in the tax system, and the research, tools and approaches needed to identify and implement policies to increase tax morale.
Taxes paid by companies remain a key source of government revenues, especially in developing countries, despite the worldwide trend of falling corporate tax rates over the past two decades, according to a new report from the OECD.
Tax revenues in advanced economies have continued to increase, with taxes on companies and personal consumption representing an increasing share of total tax revenues, according to new OECD research.
An innovative international co-operation initiative that deploys qualified experts in developing countries to strengthen their ability to effectively tax multinational enterprises has achieved significant milestones over the past year, according to a new annual report.
Tax officials from 21 jurisdictions met this week in Yangzhou, China, to share experiences from the first year of country-by-country reporting and explore how information can be used most effectively in the tax risk assessment of MNE groups. The workshop also included representatives of large MNE groups headquartered or with major operations in China and the Asia-Pacific region.
Countries have used recent tax reforms to lower taxes on businesses and individuals, with a view to boosting investment, consumption and labour market participation, continuing a trend that started a couple of years ago, according to a new report from the OECD.
Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) dipped in 2016, falling further behind average OECD country levels, but a recovery is likely in subsequent years, according to Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean 2018. The average tax-to-GDP ratio stood at 22.7% in 2016, a fall of 0.3 percentage points since 2015, the report says.
More than 110 countries and jurisdictions have agreed to review two key concepts of the international tax system, responding to a mandate from the G20 Finance Ministers to work on the implications of digitalisation for taxation.
Taxes are effective at cutting harmful emissions from energy use, but governments could make better use of them. Greater reliance on energy taxation is needed to strengthen efforts to tackle the principal source of both greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, according to a new OECD report.
The latest edition of the OECD Model Tax Convention, an international instrument which serves as a model for countries concluding bilateral tax conventions, has been released today, incorporating significant changes developed under the OECD/G20 project to address base erosion and profit (BEPS).
Tax burdens and revenue collection across the OECD countries are reaching levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, the tax mix varies enormously across the advanced economies.
International tax experts gathered today at the OECD in Paris to share experiences and identify best practices in the implementation of Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) programmes.
Every worker and employer is directly affected by taxes on wages. Taxation is one of the principal ways we finance public services. It also helps us achieve important social objectives, such as redistributing wealth to address inequalities. But as the OECD’s annual Taxing Wages points out, tax policies on labour income may have an impact on individuals’ behaviour with respect to the labour market or their consumption habits.
Tax administrations are playing a critical role as governments start implementing new international measures to counter offshore evasion and combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.
Tax evasion continues to challenge governments in developing and developed countries alike, depriving them of resources that would otherwise be available to support sustainable development through investments in infrastructure, health and other common goods.
A portfolio of relevant side events will complement the official programme of the 2017 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development follow-up (22-25 May 2017) and provide additional space for all stakeholders and participants to discuss substantive matters in greater detail.
Approximately 300 participants, representing over 100 delegations from countries, jurisdictions and international organisations, as well as representatives from the business community and academia, gathered in Paris for the fourth meeting of the OECD Global Forum on VAT on 12-14 April 2017.
Tax systems play an important role in encouraging investment in education and skills, and in ensuring that investments in skills deliver a healthy financial return for both students and governments, according to a new OECD report.
Taxing Wages 2017, the OECD’s annual flagship publication on the various taxes levied on wages and salaries, will be released on Tuesday 11 April 2017 at 11:00 CET (09:00 GMT).
Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) countries continued to increase in 2015, according to new data from the annual Revenue Statistics in Latin America and the Caribbean publication. The average tax-to-GDP ratio for LAC countries reached 22.8% of GDP in 2015, up from 22.2% in 2014.
Tax revenues collected in advanced economies have continued to increase from last year’s all-time high, with taxes on labour and consumption representing an increasing share of total tax revenues, according to new OECD research.
These three tax events held on the side-lines of the 2nd High-Level Meeting of the Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation in Nairobi were organised by the OECD in partnership with UNDP, UN, World Bank, International Monetary Fund and with support from a geographically wide and diverse coalition of partners including governments and regional tax organisations.
In 2014, the tax-to-GDP ratios of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore were below 17% of GDP compared to Japan and Korea, which both recorded tax-to-GDP ratios above 24%,according to new data released in the third edition of the OECD’s annual publication Revenue Statistics in Asian Countries.
Tax burdens and revenue collection across the OECD countries are reaching levels not seen since before the global financial crisis. Nevertheless, the tax mix varies enormously across the advanced economies.
Significant progress has been made by an international programme designed to enhance developing countries’ ability to bolster domestic revenue collection through strengthening of tax audit capacities.
Taxes on the labour income of the average worker in Latin American and Caribbean (LAC) countries totalled 21.7% of total labour costs in 2013, one-third lower than in OECD countries, where the average was 35.9%, according to the first edition of Taxing Wages in Latin America and the Caribbean.
While fiscal consolidation was the key driver of tax reforms in the years+33 following the global economic crisis, the main emphasis of recent tax reforms has shifted back to tax measures aimed at boosting economic growth, according to a new OECD report.
While the digital economy cannot be separated out from the rest of the economy, it is equally clear that some specific features of the digital economy may exacerbate the risks of base erosion and profit shifting for tax purposes–namely mobility (e.g. intangibles, business functions), reliance on data (and other forms of user input), network effects, and the spread of multi-sided business models.
A special project meeting of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network took place at the OECD in Paris on Wednesday 13 April, bringing together senior tax administration officials from countries worldwide to discuss opportunities for obtaining data, co-operation and information-sharing in light of the “Panama Papers” revelations.
Government officials from around the world have called on the OECD to convene a special project meeting of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network to explore possibilities of co-operation and information-sharing, identify tax compliance risks and agree collaborative action, in light of the “Panama Papers” revelations.
Tax revenues in African countries are rising as a proportion of national incomes, according to the inaugural edition of Revenue Statistics in Africa. In 2014, the eight countries covered by the report - Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Mauritius, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - reported tax revenues as a percentage of GDP ranging from 16.1% to 31.3%.
As part of the OECD’s work to improve the timeliness of processing and completing mutual agreement procedure (MAP) cases under tax treaties and to enhance the transparency of the MAP process, the OECD makes available annual statistics on the MAP caseloads of all its member countries and of non-OECD economies that agree to provide such statistics.
SMEs form the vast majority of businesses in most countries and contribute strongly to employment and economic growth, but they face particular challenges, particularly as concerns access to finance. Governments have a range of policy levers, including tax policies, that can and should be used to support the growth and development of SMEs, according to a new OECD report.
Tax administrations continue to face the challenges of improving their performance while reducing costs, decreasing compliance burdens for taxpayers tackling non-compliance. Improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programmes that will further benefit their citizens.
Taxpayer education is the bridge linking tax administration and citizens and a key tool to transform tax culture. Covering innovative strategies in 28 countries, this publication offers ideas and inspiration for taxpayer education, literacy and outreach. The presentation ceremony, which took place in Bolivia, was attended by representatives of EuropeAid, EUROsociAL, Bolivia's National Tax Service and the OECD.
The OECD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a new initiative to help developing countries bolster domestic revenues by strengthening their tax audit capacities.
Taxes are potentially among the most effective ways of cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are currently – with very few exceptions – underused; and even where used, they are frequently designed in a sub-optimal way.
Taxes on wages have risen by about 1 percentage point for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014 even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to a new OECD report.
Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have remained stable in 2013 and continue to be considerably lower, as a proportion of national incomes, than in most OECD countries.