Joint audits and synergies among Countries to enhance tax certainty have been at the heart of the international debate that has taken place today in Rome at the “Joint Audit Conference”. The event, organized by the Italian Revenue Agency, the Ministry of Finance of Bavaria and the Universities of Bologna and Heidelberg, has focused on recent developments on international tax cooperation and on cross-border audits jointly conducted by two or more Tax Administrations on groups operating in various Countries.
The Italian Revenue Agency and the Bavarian Ministry of Finance are involved in a Joint Audit Project, effectively working together to ensure compliance with tax rules by companies operating in multiple jurisdictions.
Bringing together representatives of Tax Administrations, International Organisations, Academia and Business, the Conference has been a chance to share the outcomes of the Joint Audit Project and to discuss the evolution of the relationships between Tax Administrations and taxpayers. Ernesto Maria Ruffini, Director General of Italian Revenue Agency, and Fabrizia Lapecorella, Director General of Finance Department (Ministry of Economy and Finance) opened the Conference. International speakers, such as Ekkehart Reimer of Heidelberg University, Achim Pross from Oecd, Tom Neale, representing European Commission and Francesca Mariotti of Confindustria, took part in the event.
Representatives of some foreign Tax Administrations also attended the Conference, such as Thomas Eisgruber and Eva Oertel from Bavarian Ministry of Finance, Egil Martinsen from Norwegian Tax Administration and Hans Rijsbergen from Dutch Tax Administration. Raffaele Russo, Senior Advisor to the Minister of Economy and Finance, moderated the discussion panel.
Joint Audit in a nutshell – The Joint Audit represents an innovative control tool within the framework of international tax cooperation. In particular, it is a tax audit jointly carried out by two or more Countries on groups of related companies with cross-border activities. Joint Audits are performed by auditors from Revenue bodies of each Country with common or complementary interest, together with tax officers dealing with exchange of information.
Italy-Bavaria, an innovative experience - Cooperation between Italy and Bavaria started in 2012 with the aim of jointly conducting tax controls on cross-border transactions between companies operating in the two territories. Nowadays this activity is performed on the basis of the Memorandum of Understanding signed in July 2016 by the Italian Revenue Agency and the Bavarian Ministry of Finance. The two Tax Administrations work together, also through shared offices placed in Munich and Milan, in order to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of tax controls and to lighten taxpayer administrative burdens, also by enhancing transparency and tax certainty. One of the main goal is also to decrease international disputes, thus reducing the number of MAP procedure or making the MAP related process faster. From an academic point of view, Universities of Bologna and Heidelberg finalized a research project on Joint Audit legal framework with reference both to the domestic, Italian and German, and international context.
(va.ib. - il.pe.)
International Tax Cooperation, the Italian Revenue Agency hosts the Joint Audit Conference
