Qatar- ATAIC opens 12th technical conf. in Doha

(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The Association of Tax Authorities of Islamic Countries (ATAIC) opened its 12th technical conference on Sunday to share views and expertise on the latest developments in the tax domain.
The five-day gathering will discuss, inter alia, the erosion of tax sources and transfer of tax profits which became a matter of global concern, Undersecretary of the Qatari Ministry of Finance Khalaf Al-Mana'i said in an inaugural speech on behalf of Minister of Finance Ali Al-Emadi.
"Under the accelerated globalization and information revolution a lot of economic, commercial and service activities went online which brought about formidable challenges to the tax authorities.
"Many multinationals took advantage of the differences in the tax systems of different countries to evade their tax commitments, thus eroding the tax revenues of all countries, whether developed or developing," he argued.
"The tax systems of the Islamic countries, based on the principle of justice for taxpayers, bore the brunt of the problem of tax evasion and need to adopt the Tax Compliance Agreement as early as possible.
"The Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), adopted by the United States on March 18, 2010, represents a good start for the US and foreign tax authorities to work together and make it more difficult for evaders to hide their financial accounts and assets.
"It prepares the ground for a new global standard on the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) and the common reporting system," Al-Mana'i said, noting that many countries, including the Islamic ones, will start implementing this system in 2017-18.
He highlighted the importance of the Islamic countries' capitalizing on such experiments to coordinate the procedures and means of their tax authorities to tackle the problem of tax evasion.
On his part, chairman of the conference Jassem Al-Kardani said the meeting coincides with important developments in the area of taxation in the US and other countries.
The enforcement of the FATCA entered a crucial stage as the US federal tax authorities will receive the first report under the new law in a few weeks while the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has almost finalized the reports and recommendations on tax erosion and transfer of profits, he pointed out.
"The problem of tax evasion, coupled with the current decline of oil prices, added strains on the economies of the ATAIC member countries and requires concerted efforts to understand the new challenges in a subtle way that does not hamper the activities of investors in the private sector," Al-Kardani added.
Meanwhile, ATAIC Secretary-General Abdullah Al-Mosa'edi said the membership of the association grew to 28 countries.
Five other countries, including Chad, Cameroon and Uganda, applied for joining the association and their applications will be discussed during the current conference which lasts until September 10, he noted.
The 11 sessions of the conference will discuss working papers related to the means of combating tax evasion, the procedures of tax collection, the exchange of expertise on the FATCA and the AEOI, and the challenges and opportunities in this domain.