The Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA) Regional Network Meeting and Governmental Workshop on BEPS was held on 21-23 October in Tbilisi, Georgia, organised by OECD in cooperation with IOTA, hosted by the Revenue Service and the Ministry of Finance of Georgia. IOTA has provided financial support to the participation of invited IOTA member tax administrations and also assisted in finding speakers from IOTA members (Finland and the Netherlands).
One of the most important missions of IOTA is to assist and facilitate that members could successfully meet key emerging challenges tax administrations are facing today. BEPS project is undoubtedly the most fundamental reform of international tax system in our recent history. This is the reason why IOTA’s participation is crucial in the project. The Regional Network Meeting in Tbilisi has provided the countries with an opportunity to input into the development of mechanisms to implement solutions to tackle BEPS, in order to strengthen their national tax systems.
Participants were welcomed with opening remarks delivered by H. E. Nodar Khaduri, Finance Minister of Georgia, Mr Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Mr Jan Christian Sandberg, Acting Executive Secretary of IOTA and the Deputy Ambassador Radu Gorincioy, Chairman-in-Office of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
During the three day program the participants; senior level representatives of finance ministries and tax administrations from Eurasian countries, representatives from regional and international organisations active in Eurasia, local stakeholders from business, labour, academia and civil society discussed the outputs of the project. Participants exchanged views on the key challenges and opportunities related to the implementation of the different action items of the BEPS Project, approaches on strengthening capacity building and the development of toolkits for developing countries.
IOTA Acting Executive Secretary, Mr Jan Christian Sandberg presented to the participants the IOTA work programme for 2016 highlighting several initiatives addressing BEPS issues. He also offered IOTA’s support in developing the toolkits. Mr Sandberg held several bilateral meetings on the margins of the event, met representatives of the press and used the opportunity to visit the IOTA workshop held at the same time also in Tbilisi on VAT Fraud and Tax Evasion.
IOTA’s stronger engagement in the process was very welcomed by OECD, by other international organisations and by government representatives. Before the next regional network meeting different events - among them IOTA workshops - will serve as next steps for the countries to share experiences and to prepare the implementation phase of the BEPS outputs. IOTA will also be observer in the ad hoc Group for the development of a multilateral instrument.
