handbook-tb

PrefaceIn recent years, international attention has been attracted tothe issues of tax base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS), which derivesfrom aggressive exploitation of legal arbitrage and tax planningopportunities by multinational enterprises and results in diminishedtax revenue for Governments. Major work in this area has been doneby the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD). Its focus, however, is naturally on the priorities of memberStates of the OECD, and such priorities do not always reflect issues thatare of particular relevance to developing countries. To fill this gap, theUnited Nations — through its Committee of Experts on InternationalCooperation in Tax Matters — initiated a study on the perspectives ofdeveloping countries, with a view to facilitating input of their experiencesand views into the ongoing international activities on BEPS.It is evident that BEPS negatively affects domestic resource mobilizationin developing countries, resulting in forgone tax revenue and ahigher cost of tax collection. Strengthening the capacity of developingcountries to protect and broaden their tax base is crucial. To this end,the Financing for Development Office of the United Nations Departmentof Economic and Social Affairs launched a capacity development projectfocusing on the development of practical materials which addressselected issues to promote the protection of the tax base of developingcountries. These materials, which form the basis of this publication, wereprepared through the collaborative efforts of international tax scholarsand practitioners and numerous experts from the national tax authoritiesand the ministries of finance of developing countries.We see this Handbook as a tangible deliverable towards theobjectives of the Addis Ababa Conference on Financing forDevelopment and hope that it will serve as a useful, relevant and practicaltool in the daily work of tax professionals in developing countries,which is of crucial importance for assuring the success of nationalefforts to foster sustainable development.Alexander TrepelkovDirector, Financing for Development OfficeDepartment of Economic and Social Affairsiv