The Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) of the Federal Republic of Germany, in collaboration with the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations (CIAT), the International Tax Compact (ITC), the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Chamber of Commerce Uruguay-Germany (AHK), with the support of the General Tax Directorate (DGI) of Uruguay, organized a regional exchange seminar in the cycle of “Tax reforms to strengthen social cohesion in Latin America”, on the topic “Taxation of Large Companies – Transfer Pricing”, which took place from November 19 to 21, 2012 in Montevideo, Uruguay.

Both the Tax Director General (DGI) of Uruguay, Mr. Paul Ferreri, and the German Ambassador in Uruguay, Mr. Heinz Peters opened the event. Participants were officials of areas responsible for auditing large taxpayers from tax authorities of Chile, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela, as well as international experts from Spain, Argentina, OECD, ECLAC and representatives of multinational companies operating in Latin America.

The first day consisted in a discussion forum on the development of the legal and administrative systems in countries of Latin America, regarding control of abusive transfer pricing manipulation.

On the following days working groups were organized, with the purpose of initiating a discussion with representatives of the attending tax administrations and organizations, about an initiative for capturing and sharing public data from Latin American countries, which are useful for the control of large companies or general taxation. This initiative originated from the General Assembly of Quito in 2011 and a meeting was held under the same program last year in Lima (Peru), to determine the availability of public data in the countries of the region.

In his presentation of this initiative that aims to create a non-confidential tax interest database, Mr. Gonzalo Arias, CIAT Director of Taxation and Cooperation, highlighted the key role of ITC and GIZ in facilitating the development of this ambitious project and the participation of the countries which are main actors and beneficiaries.

In conclusion, it was determined that the project, although ambitious, has a high probability of being implemented and is followed with much interest by CIAT member countries tax administrations.

In the coming months, field works will be carried out in cooperation with the tax administrations, to find sources of public information in the region.

See: Presentations agenda

Left to right: The Director of the German-Uruguayan Chamber of Commerce,  Isaac Gonzalo Arias, Director of International Cooperation and Taxation, Pablo Ferreri, DGI of Uruguay General Director, Mr. Heinz Peters, Ambassador of Germany in Uruguay, Jörg Wisner, GIZ Director of Projects.		Seminar participants