Il Fondo monetario internazionale (Fmi) ha recentemente pubblicato una serie di papers che esaminano gli effetti prodotti dalla recente crisi finanziaria mondiale sulle entrate delle Amministrazioni fiscali e sulla compliance del contribuente nonché i rimedi per contrastare operazioni potenzialmente elusive che possono essere messe in atto sfruttando l'economic slowdown. In particolare, il Fondo nota che "The current global financial and economic crisis presents major challenges to revenue administration in many countries. With worsening economic conditions, tax agencies around the world face growing compliance risks involving such issues as tax arrears, loss-reporting businesses, tax withholding, and the cash economy. At the same time, agencies are being asked to provide taxpayers with additional support and assistance to help them cope with their obligations. And complicating their response to the crisis, some tax agencies face prospective budget cuts as governments wrestle with increasing fiscal pressures".

Gli issue del paper
Il paper intitolato "Collecting Taxes during an Economic Crisis: Challenges and Policy Options" (consultabile al sito dell'IFM http://www.imf.org) si propone di analizzare le seguenti problematiche di rilievo internazionale: la riscossione delle imposte durante la crisi finanziaria; gli effetti della crisi finanziaria per le Amministrazioni finanziarie e le strategie per contrastare la crisi; gli strumenti e le politiche poste in atto da alcune Amministrazioni fiscali del mondo; l'individuazione dei rischi che caratterizzano il settore finanziario.

Le operazioni potenzialmente elusive
Con riferimento alle tematica delle operazioni potenzialmente elusive/evasive il paper dell'Fmi pone l'attenzione in particolare alla disciplina del riporto delle perdite e delle operazioni cross-border, ovvero al transfer pricing.

La disciplina del riporto delle perdite
Per ciò che concerne le perdite, il paper rileva quanto segue:

• tax laws often include provisions that provide some relief for losses. Most countries allow losses to be carried forward and offset against future income. Some countries also permit losses to be carried back and refunded against taxes paid in earlier periods. In addition, a number of countries allow losses to be transferred between firms in the context of a merger. These provisions can provide a lifeline to distressed businesses as well as facilitate corporate restructurings.
• in an economic crisis, tax losses present a growing compliance risk. Some businesses may declare illicit losses, believing that the tax agency cannot distinguish them from bona fide losses in a general environment of decreased profitability. Failure to control losses may put significant revenue at risk (loss carry forwards can generate tax deductions for many years to come, loss carry backs can lead to immediate refunds, and loss transfers may encourage inefficient trafficking in the sale of loss-making companies).
• while permitting bona fide loss claims, tax agencies should give greater attention to possible abuses by (1) verifying doubtful claims, particularly in cases of larger claims, (2) determining whether the conditions and limitations have been correctly applied for carrying forward, carrying back, and transferring losses, and (3) checking for possible manipulation of losses by consolidated groups and partnerships. More generally, tax agencies need to sharpen their audit focus on businesses that report tax losses year after year.

Le operazioni cross-border e il transfer pricing
In relazione alle operazioni cross-border e al transfer pricing il paper dà evidenza delle seguenti problematiche:

• the crisis has brought cross-border compliance issues into sharper focus. Globalization has been accompanied by a rise in international tax compliance issues, ranging from legitimate but highly complex cross-border tax planning to deliberate concealment of income and assets in tax havens. With the crisis, a number of tax agencies are strengthening their enforcement efforts against cross-border noncompliance, including the abuse of offshore tax centers.
• shifting offshore losses through nonmarket pricing is of growing concern. Recent market events have led to losses, or lower-than-expected profits, for many multinational groups. These groups will find incentives to report their losses in countries where they can be used to best advantage (i.e., high-tax jurisdictions). In this situation, some tax agencies are paying more attention to the illicit importing of losses through nonmarket pricing. For example, increases in inbound management service charges with a view to recovering increased global costs without regard to the specific nature of the services received in the home country and the related arm's length value of those services are being more closely reviewed.

Le operazioni con società residenti in paradisi fiscali
La crisi finanziaria ha inoltre riportato l'attenzione sulle operazioni poste in essere con società residenti in paradisi fiscali; tuttavia, occorre rilevare che a seguito del G-20 tenutosi in aprile è stato riaffermato con forza il committment per lo scambio di informazioni, che risulta essere ormai uno standard accettato dalla maggior parte dei Paesi e che conta soltanto poche defezioni.

Le conclusioni
Il Fondo monetario internazionale raccomanda alle Amministrazioni fiscali quanto segue: "(…) tax agencies should strengthen their international enforcement programs by (1) developing a targeted audit program to address cross-border evasion;(2) expanding the number of audits of international issues, increasing the number of international tax auditors (particularly within the LTO), and providing greater technical guidance to auditors on international issues; (3) increasing disclosure requirements on international transactions;25 (4) publishing warnings on specific international tax planning schemes that are deemed to improperly exploit loopholes in the tax laws; (5) promoting the exchange of information with the country's anti-money-laundering agency to verify compliance and identify aggressive international tax practices (6) entering into tax information exchange agreements with other jurisdictions and effectively using this information for control purposes; and (7) introducing a voluntary disclosure program that encourages taxpayers to declare previously unreported income in offshore accounts".