Using Beneficial Ownership Transparency for Tax Collection

The aim of this NTO-IBFD training programme is to equip tax administrations worldwide with the tools and best practices to combat tax evasion, money laundering, and other illicit activities, leading to enhanced Domestic Revenue Mobilisation (DRM) and contributing to global financial integrity.

The Network of Tax Organisations (NTO), in collaboration with the International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation (IBFD), is launching the training course “Using beneficial ownership transparency for tax collection”. This course, set to begin in September 2024, is designed to equip tax administrations with the tools and knowledge needed to effectively address tax avoidance schemes related to the manipulation of asset ownership. While the training will focus on practical tax aspects of beneficial ownership (BO) transparency, it will also cover international anti-money laundering (AML) standards in that field.

figure iffs — *Retrieved from UN DESA Policy Brief No. 148*

As illicit financial flows exploiting the separation between legal and beneficial ownership play a crucial role in avoidance schemes that cost economies hundreds of billions of dollars, the importance of this issue cannot be overstated. The course seeks to enhance the capacity of tax administrations to tackle these challenges, enhancing domestic Revenue Mobilisation (DRM), and ensuring fair tax practices.

The training comprises four modules, each featuring 3 to 4 hours of pre-recorded videos available one week in advance for self-paced learning. This is complemented by a live session offering space for practical exercises and Q&A opportunities, delivered twice to accommodate different time zones. Interpretation from English into French and Spanish will be available.

The course offers in-depth modules on beneficial ownership, tax planning schemes, access to information, and tax compliance and enforcement, addressing complex issues such as intricate ownership structures, treaty shopping, enforcement practices, and international standards, and much more.

Participants will explore the intricacies of tax avoidance schemes, covering best practices and enforcement tools to combat sophisticated manipulations in asset ownership. This NTO-IBFD initiative stands out from other BO transparency efforts due to its practical approach: it goes beyond delivering international standards and legal frameworks and dives into practical challenges and ways of improving enforcement using efficient tools and mechanisms to enhance tax authorities' responses to these challenges.

layout — *Outline of the NTO - IBFD training course "Using Beneficial Ownership Transparency for Tax Collection"*

The training responds to the pressing needs of tax administrations affiliated to NTO members, who face significant challenges in tackling those fields. Consequently, the benefits are twofold: the course builds capacities to increase revenue collection, and at the same time increases the fairness of the tax system by targeting sophisticated taxpayers that usually have financial resources to structure ownership manipulations schemes.

This initiative is particularly relevant for staff in revenue administrations working both in field and headquarters, and particularly international tax experts. In addition, the training course is useful for ministries of finance in designing appropriate domestic policies that effectively tackle avoidance schemes and increase revenue collection. Crime enforcement agencies can also benefit from the course.

Participation in this course is by invitation only. This comprehensive programme represents a significant step forward in the global effort to enhance tax transparency and combat tax avoidance.

For questions, please contact secretariat@taxcompact.net

About

The Network of Tax Organisations (NTO) is a network of ten regional and international tax organisations that aims to develop a global platform to strengthen tax systems around the world for the wellbeing of citizens.

The NTO aims to develop new knowledge resources for tax administrations by building programmes for improving capacity of effective Domestic Revenue Mobilisation (DRM). As the scale of illicit financial flow using the separation between legal and beneficial ownership has been estimated to be in the hundreds of billions of dollars, one can only imagine the estimated loss of revenue from non-criminal tax avoidance using legal financial flows. Being a global phenomenon, which is highly prioritised by international institutions, ownership tax avoidance is a challenge that many of NTO members and their affiliated tax authorities share.