tailieunhanh - SIXTH MEETING OF THE OECD FORUM ON TAX ADMINISTRATION - 2010

These guidelines were developed in response to a direction from the Presidents of the SAIs of the Central and Eastern European Countries, Cyprus, Malta, Turkey and the European Court of Auditors. That directive resulted from a Report on “Quality in the Audit Process” that was prepared by the Expert Group on Audit Quality and SIGMA and delivered to the Presidents at their meeting in Bucharest in December 2002. A summary of that report appears in Annex B of this document. The Guidelines in this document were developed by the same Expert Group and SIGMA, with the. | Sixth meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration Joint Audit Report Foreword As multinational companies operate more and more in a global context it is incumbent on governments to innovate to keep up with this trend. This is difficult work as a government s jurisdiction often ends at its border while companies operate across borders. In the tax arena the dramatic increase in cross-border activities and investments of both business entities and individuals has presented tax administrations with difficult and unique challenges. In response revenue bodies around the world in pursuit of stronger international tax compliance will likely move beyond cooperation to various forms of coordinated action. Joint audits represent a new form of coordinated action between and among tax administrations. In a joint audit two or more countries would join to form a single audit team to conduct a taxpayer examination. Joint audits should result in quicker issue resolution more streamlined fact finding and more effective compliance. Joint audits would also have the potential to shorten examination processes and reduce costs both for revenue authorities and for taxpayers. This report was commissioned by the Forum on Tax Administration FTA in October 2009. The report reflects the wealth of experiences held by the thirteen countries on the OECD Study Team Australia Canada Denmark France Japan Korea Mexico Netherlands South Africa Spain Turkey the United Kingdom and the United States. In the past many of these countries have successfully pursued cooperative activities simultaneous examinations bilateral advanced pricing agreements mutual assistance agreements etc. The joint audit has the potential to take this cooperation to a new level. Country experiences with other cooperative activities suggest that a joint audit could achieve efficient and effective results if proper planning occurs and processes are well-defined. To that end the Study Team has prepared a practical how-to Guide .