The Sixth Regional Meeting on BEPS for Eurasian countries took place virtually on 17th-19th November 2020. It was hosted by the Ministry of Finance of Bulgaria, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Intra-European Organisation of Tax Administrations (IOTA). The meeting was opened by Ms. Lyudmila Petkova, Director of Tax Policy Directorate in the Bulgarian Ministry of Finance and Mr. Ben Dickinson, Head of the Global Relations and Development Division of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the OECD. It was co-chaired by Ms. Lyudmila Petkova and Ms. Tracey Brooks of the IOTA Secretariat.
Over 100 delegates from 28 countries, international and regional organisations, business and civil society participated in the event. Participants included senior officials from ministries of finance and tax administrations from Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Mongolia, Montenegro, Pakistan, Poland, Qatar, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Srpska (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Turkey, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates. Also present were representatives from international and regional organisations (IOTA, Asian Development Bank), the local business community (the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Deloitte Bulgaria, Philipov & Partners, Tabakov Law Corporation), and academia
The meeting provided updates on the work of the Inclusive Framework, especially in the area of addressing the challenges of the digitalisation of the economy and the four BEPS minimum standards. The OECD and IOTA presented their work on tax policy and tax administration responses to Covid-19. Participants were also provided with an outline of the new chapter in the Transfer Pricing Guidelines relating to financial transactions, plus an overview of the capacity building toolkits and initiatives.
For more information, please read the co-chairs’ statement and the Summary of discussions by clicking here.
More materials on the meeting are available here for registered IOTA members.