The Platform for Collaboration on Tax is launching its new Toolkit on Tax Treaty Negotiations. The virtual launch workshop will take place on 11-12 March and 15 March from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern Standard Time. Registration is available here (https://worldbankgroup.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJUqf-GgqDopHdHDAo_mKWQOZV1OQK3JU3iN) on Zoom.
The PCT is a collaborative effort among the secretariats of the International Monetary Fund, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations and the World Bank Group. Toolkits developed by the PCT build on existing guidance to provide capacity-building support to developing countries.
The PCT Toolkit on Tax Treaty Negotiations draws particularly on the guidance in the 2019 UN Manual for the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and Developing Countries (the “UN Manual”), which is one of the key products of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, for which the Financing for Sustainable Development Office (FSDO), United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), serves as the Secretariat. Colleagues from UNDESA/FSDO and the OECD Secretariat took the leading roles in the development of the toolkit.
The UN Manual and the toolkit aim at strengthening the technical expertise of developing countries’ tax officials in the negotiation of tax treaties and provide practical guidance to treaty negotiators in develop¬ing countries.
The three-day workshop accompanying the toolkit launch will provide an opportunity for government officials to hear from speakers with rich experience relevant to developing a tax treaty policy framework and conducting actual negotiations. Presentations by the providers of tax treaty databases will respond to data deficits that many developing countries indicated have hindered their ability to negotiate balanced agreements.
The Manual, toolkit and launch workshop contribute to the implementa¬tion of the Addis Agenda Action Agenda on Financing for Development and should serve as useful and relevant tools in supporting developing countries in domestic resource mobilization and international tax cooperation for sustainable development.