On 22 November 2023, IOTA successfully held its latest Webinar, “Addressing the Future Development of International Cooperation in Tax Matters”. This digital event had over 170 registered participants from 31 IOTA countries and featured speakers from four member tax administrations: Greece, Hungary, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
International tax cooperation plays an important role in domestic resource mobilization for sustainable development by strengthening tax administration and helping curb tax avoidance and evasion. The evaluation and measurement of its impact though is often far from easy, straightforward, or performed on the same criteria, to allow comparability and make further improvements in multilateral tax cooperation solutions. At this digital event, IOTA members had the opportunity to share their experiences and gain knowledge regarding the evaluation of various international cooperation mechanisms such as joint and simultaneous audits, exchange of information, and mutual assistance. Furthermore, the participants identified and discussed different approaches that have been implemented by tax administrations of IOTA member countries.
The event also aimed to explore the potential complementary role of IOTA in the field of international tax cooperation, in addition to the existing efforts of other international organizations. The following member countries shared their knowledge and insights during the Webinar:
- Greece: “Improving the use of DAC data” presented by Efthimia Christou;
- Poland: “Poland’s approach to measuring performance of international administrative cooperation” presented by Izabella Dlugosz;
- Hungary: “Other tools of the international administrative cooperation in the field of VAT and Direct taxes” presented by Tímea Békési;
- United Kingdom: “HMRC evaluation of international cooperation” presented by Ruth Froggatt
Webinar participants shared their views and reflected on the poll questions, as they could also raise questions during the Q&A sessions. All the materials and presentations are now available online and the event recording will be uploaded soon to the event’s webpage. This Webinar was led by the IOTA International Taxation Experts Alexandros Roukalis & Oksana Stepanenko and was broadcast live from the IOTA Studio in Budapest, Hungary.
