The Lead Story
Tax Inspectors Without Borders Levels Up
The OECD-UNDP cohort just took its tax-capacity roadshow to the next level. During the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) in Sevilla, the duo rolled out Tax Inspectors Without Borders 2.0—a plan to double-down on the decade-old program that parachutes veteran auditors into developing-country tax offices. The upgrade aims to widen country coverage and tackle thornier issues like transfer pricing and base-erosion, the OECD announced.
Since 2015, TIWB’s on-the-job mentorship model has already helped mobilise USD 2.4 billion, with a hefty USD 1.9 billion of that flowing into African treasuries. “We’re keeping the side-by-side DNA but stretching the brief,” OECD development chief Ragnheiður Elín Árnadóttir told delegates, pointing to fresh mandates on complex audits and digitalisation.
TIWB 2.0 also made the cut for the new Sevilla Platform for Action, a curated list of initiatives meant to put tangible wins behind the FFD4 outcome document. Translation: expect more experts in more jurisdictions—and more pressure on multinationals that get creative with their cross-border accounting.
The reaction was swift. Nigeria’s foreign minister Yusuf Tuggar hailed TIWB’s track record while spotlighting Abuja’s own reforms, noting at FFD4 that illicit financial flows are costing Africa $88.6 billion a year, Voice of Nigeria reports. “Domestic mobilisation alone is not enough,” he warned, urging wider adoption of beneficial-ownership registers.
Around the Tax World
- G7 grants a hall pass to US multinationals… Last week’s pact lets US-headquartered groups dodge the 15 % Pillar 2 minimum in exchange for Washington scrapping its Section 899 “revenge tax” hikes (fDi Intelligence). Foreign investors smell fiscal discrimination.
- …and accounting pros see turbulence ahead. The exemption “paves the way for a ‘side-by-side’ system,” warned QUT’s Kerrie Sadiq after the bill squeaked through the Senate 51-50, according to Accounting Times.
- Italy redefines a ‘fixed base’. The Italian Supreme Court says operational continuity—not bricks and mortar—can create a taxable presence for independent professionals, broadening source-state taxing rights (International Tax Review).
- Amazon watchers push green taxes. Colombian think-tank Dejusticia argues resource extractors need tougher, cooperative tax regimes to fund rainforest protection (Dejusticia).
By the Numbers
Prime Number: USD 2.4 billion – the extra revenue developing countries have collected so far thanks to TIWB’s first decade in action (OECD).
Looking Ahead
Madrid’s FFD4 wraps Friday, but negotiators say the real work starts when TIWB experts hit the ground later this year. Meanwhile, all eyes turn to the OECD Inclusive Framework meeting in October, where non-US members are expected to press for guardrails on the G7 carve-out.
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Prepared by MyTax - mytax.com.ng