On 9-12 September the WCO participated at the annual CIAT (Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations) Technical Conference organised by the Kenya Revenue Authority in Nairobi. This year’s conference was dedicated to Prevention and Control of Tax Evasion. The conference was attended by 23 CIAT member jurisdictions, 14 non-Member administrations and various International Organizations, including International Monetary Fund, the World Bank and African Development Bank.
The conference covered a variety of issues, including tax audits in digital age, audit of computer based records, risk analysis and audit software tools, control of electronic commerce etc. At the panel session on Tax and Financial Intelligence Units and Tax Fraud Informant Award Programmes, the following topics, including the mechanisms to develop intelligence and information sources and national experiences in sharing intelligence and strengthening cooperation among the competent national authorities to fight tax fraud, were discussed. WCO delivered a presentation on the role of Customs administrations in monitoring cross-border movements of cash and on cooperative mechanisms between Customs and Tax authorities, as well as Financial Intelligence Units to fight tax fraud.
The next annual CIAT Technical Conference will be held in Santiago de Compostella, Spain, in October 2014.