BRICS tax authorities ink institutional document to enhance cooperation

Tax authorities of the five BRICS countries inked a landmark document on July 27 to establish a mechanism for taxation cooperation.

The BRICS Taxation Cooperation Memorandum signed at the fifth Meeting of BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities is the bloc's first document that elevates taxation cooperation to the institutional level.

At the meeting, the authorities also agreed to cooperate on taxation information exchange, improve consultation procedures efficiency, boost taxation capacities and planned paths for coordination of taxation policies.

China pledged to annually train at least 150 taxation professionals from developing countries over the next two years. Since 2015, the State Administration of Taxation (SAT) has provided taxation courses for nearly 400 professionals from more than 50 developing countries.

In addition, the five countries promised to implement a financial account information exchange system before September 2018 to counter cross-border tax evasion and enhance taxation transparency.

Wang Jun, the SAT director, proposed at the meeting that BRICS countries should work together to improve the global taxation governance system, actively engage in rule-making, and allow emerging and developing countries to have a bigger say in the area.

Liao Tizhong, head of the international taxation department of the administration, said that taxation cooperation between BRICS members is an indispensable force to address imbalances of global economic development and promote coordinated growth.

The meeting comes ahead of the 2017 BRICS Summit to be held in Xiamen, Fujian Province, from September 3 to 5.

The BRICS countries -- Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -- are home to 42 percent of the world's population. Their total share in the global economy has risen from 12 percent to 23 percent in the past decade, while contributing more than half of global growth.