Oupa Magashula, the commissioner for the South African Revenue Service (SARS) has said they are discovering an increasing number of tax avoidance schemes through cross-border structuring, particularly by the construction industry.
Asia is seen as less tolerant of the OECD's thinking on transfer pricing, compared to Europe and the Americas, but the region’s acceptance of the arm’s-length principle (ALP) is growing, say speakers at International Tax Review’s Asia Tax Forum in Singapore this week.
The Indian Ministry of Finance has set up an advisory group for international taxation and transfer pricing to reduce litigation and bring certainty for taxpayers operating in India.
Is the arm’s-length principle enough? The short answer is not quite, but when you put multinational companies, tax campaigners, OECD officials and economists in the same room, there is never a short answer.
SAB Miller told ministers at the UK’s International Development Committee (IDC) that capacity building is essential if developing countries are to collect the right amount of tax but the “transparency drive to achieve a right outcome is, we believe, doomed”.
