Pretoria – The South African Revenue Services (SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently...) has convened a forum of commissioners from bordering countries, including Swaziland, Lesotho, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa to deliberate on core tax and customs issues.

The forum debated issues linked to illicit financial flows, base erosion and profit sharing, transfer pricingTransfer pricing is a fundamental concept in international taxation that defines the pricing methods and rules applied to transactions between related entities within a multinational enterprise (MNE). In the context of tax regulations, it governs how prices for goods, services, or intangibles (such as intellectual property) are set when these items are exchanged between different branches, subsidiaries, or affiliates of... and cross-border enforcement.

According to SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently..., the aim was to chart a road map going forward and maximise the respective participating countries’ statutory mandates of revenue collection.

Recently the International Monetary Fund released a working paper, which said “the cost of multi-national companies deliberately avoiding tax exceeds $200 billion per year”.

The Organisation for Economic Capacity and Development (OECDThe Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation comprising 38 member countries, established to foster economic growth, trade, and development on a global scale. Founded in 1961, the OECD provides a forum for governments to collaborate, share policy experiences, and develop solutions to common economic challenges. The OECD's core mission is to promote policies that improve...) said developing countries lose three times more to tax havens than what is received in international aid per year.

Added to this, a report by the African Union on illicit financial flows said $60 billion is annually tapped from the continent.

It is against this backdrop of abusive tax practices, SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... convened the forum.

SARSThe South African Revenue Service (SARS) is the official tax authority responsible for the administration and enforcement of tax laws in South Africa. It plays a crucial role in managing the country’s fiscal policy by collecting revenue, administering customs, and ensuring compliance with tax legislation. Established under the South African Revenue Service Act, No. 34 of 1997, SARS functions independently... Commissioner Tom Moyane called for collective cross-border strategies to respond to the challenges, which can lead to a continental discussion under the African Tax and Administration Forum (ATAF).

Moyane, in his opening address at the forum, said exports out of developing countries are often under-invoiced so that income is accrued abroad, and imports into developing countries are often under-invoiced, so that the excess payment accumulates in foreign accounts.

He acknowledged the increase in automatic exchange of tax information and posed the question on how this can be leveraged.

The meeting culminated in a joint statement of in-principle agreements and actions. – SAnews.gov.za