Special Meeting of ECOSOC on International Cooperation in Tax Matters

5 June 2014, UN Headquarters, New York

Pursuant to its resolution 2013/24, the Economic and Social Council held, on 5 June 2014, a one-day meeting to consider international cooperation in tax matters including, as appropriate, its contribution to mobilizing domestic financial resources for development and the institutional arrangements to promote such cooperation, with the participation of representatives of national tax authorities.

The morning session featured an update on the work of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, followed by a panel discussion on “International tax cooperation: Current issues on the agenda of international organizations”, with the participation of major international organizations active in the tax area, such as the IMF, OECD and the Inter-American Centre of Tax Administrations (CIAT).

The afternoon session began with panel discussion on “Current issues in domestic resource mobilization for development: Base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS)”, which featured an update on the current work on these issues undertaken by the United Nations, OECD and other international organizations. The debate focused on determining which of the BEPS actions and more broadly topics related to tax base protection were of particular relevance to developing countries, at the relevant stage of their capacity development.

The meeting concluded with an interactive discussion on “Extractive industries taxation issues for developing countries”, which included a report on the outcome of the first meeting of the UN Subcommittee on Extractive Industries Taxation and provided opportunity for other relevant international organizations and representatives of Governments to contribute their views to the debate.