Last August 6-8, under the auspices of the Tax Administration National Office (ONAT) of Cuba and the collaboration of CIAT, the 13th Tax International Seminar was held in La Havanna, Cuba. The main topic was “the impact of information technologies and telecommunications – ICTs – in the modernization of the tax administration”.

High-level representatives from the tax administrations of Argentina, Brazil, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, and Peru have participated to the seminar; as well as the tax administration of the city of Buenos Aires, the Argentine Judicial Branch and the International Cooperation Agency of the German Government (GIZ). Among the authorities attending, we had the pleasure to find Mr Carlos Alberto Barreto, Secretary of Receita Federal of Brazil and President of the CIAT Executive Council, and Mr. Santiago Menéndez Menéndez, Director General of the State Agency for Tax Administration of Spain. As representative of the Cuban government, Mrs. Lina Pedraza Rodríguez, Minister of Finance and Prices of Cuba; Mrs. Meisi Bolaños Weiss, Deputy Minister of Finance and Prices; and Ms. Yolanda Álvarez de la Torre, Head of the ONAT, as well as other authorities of the Ministry of Finance and Prices, ONAT and various public agencies have participated.

Through this activity, it has been possible to know in detail the latest measures taken by the Government of Cuba, including those related to the tax and economic policy as well as the main actions taken by the ONAT to implement these changes. In this regard, it has been impressive to learn about the progress made in the special zone development of Mariel, and the perspectives generated by this project.

They have also shared and discussed valuable experiences of the countries present, related to the application of ICT in the management of tax documents and information regimes, services to the taxpayer, collection, control and enforced collection.

While the central theme of the event refers to the TICs, the introduction of two complementary topics on the last day of the seminar has allowed, on the one hand, to approach the topic of “legal Services” related to tax breaches and their sanctions, and the structure, functions and peculiarities of the tax administrations legal services of the tax administrations under the theme “Legal services”. On the other hand, the subject presented by the ONAT “results of evasion packages studies ” has allowed to know approaches adopted by this institution to estimate the approximate level of evasion and consequently to adopt effective actions to improve tax compliance.

Event official photo.

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