NTO webinar series "Tax & Crime": “Exchange of Information and Inter-Agency Cooperation in Combatting Tax Crimes"

In preparation for the 1st NTO Technical Conference – which will take place in Rome in October 2021 – the NTO launched a webinars series on “Tax & Crime”. The first webinar of the series addressed the issue of illicit financial flows (IFFs), the impact of IFFs on tax administration activities, strategies and best practices. In continuity, the second webinar held on 4 February 2021, from 18:00 - 19:30 (UTC), will discuss challenges and approaches identified by revenue authorities to promote better cooperation between national and international agencies to combat tax crimes.

While tax administrations play a key role in identifying and reporting suspected tax and other related financial crimes, significant barriers to the effectiveness of their actions remain. In particular the lack of access to strategic information and clear communication channels between different national and international authorities present major obstacles. By exploiting countries’ legal and institutional weaknesses, and taking advantage of technological developments, criminals can covertly move substantial sums between multiple jurisdictions, allowing criminal activities and IFFs to become increasingly sophisticated. In this context, the collaboration between revenue administrations and effective exchange of information is crucial to identify unusual transactions and common gaps, as well as to exchange legal instruments and best practices to tackle these.

The webinar “Exchange of Information and Inter-Agency Cooperation in Combating Tax Crimes” seeks to discuss these issues while promoting an open dialogue and peer-to-peer learning between revenue authorities, Dr. Alizera Khanjan, Deputy Director-General of Legal Affairs & Tax Treaties at the Iranian National Administration (INTA) will discuss the Iranian experience on the exchange of information and inter-agency cooperation. Ms. Patricia Tavares de Lima, Tax Investigator and head of the Research and Investigation Office in the City of Vitoria of the Brazilian Federal Revenue Office (RFB), will present the Brazilian perspective – focusing on the main bottlenecks regarding the exchange of information and cooperation between agencies in the regional context. The session will be moderated by Mr. Alvin Mosioma, founding Executive Director of Tax Justice Network-Africa

The webinar will be conducted in English with simultaneous translation to French. All tax officials affiliated to NTO member organisations are kindly invited to participate.

For registration details, please contact your affiliated tax organisations or secretariat@taxcompact.net.

Agenda

• 18:00 – 18:10: Welcome remarks by Stefano Gesuelli, Head of the Italian Mission at CIAT and CIAT Director for Planning and Institutional Development 
•  18:10 – 18:30: "Exchange of Information & Inter-agency Cooperation in Combating Tax Crimes: An Iranian Experience" by Dr. Alireza Khanjan, Deputy Director General of Legal Affairs & Tax Treaties at the Iranian National Tax Administration (INTA)
• 18:35 – 18:55: "The main bottlenecks regarding the exchange of information, within the context of regional cooperation between agencies" by Ms. Patricia Tavares de Lima, Head of the Research and Investigation Office in the City of Vitoria, State of Espírito Santo, at the Brazilian Federal Revenue Office (RFB)
• 19:00 – 19:30: Q&A session, moderated by Mr. Alvin Mosioma, founding Executive Director of Tax Justice Network-Africa