A lack of communication between the Treasury and the HM Revenue and Customs has lead to discrepancies of billions of pounds in the reports prepared by the departments. On February 7th the Public Accounts Committee of the Parliament of the UK voiced criticism at the lack of communication between the Treasury and the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), pointing to new evidence of inadequate data sharing amongst government departments. The Committee's concerns are based on new data from a recently published report, the Whole ... Read More

ROME - In 2011 tax authorities in Italy launched investigations on suspected cases of tax evasion worth more than EUR 58 billion. On January 23rd the Guardia di Finanza (GDF), the Italian law enforcement agency dealing with financial crimes, released a statement revealing that in 2011 it launched 12 000 investigations on businesses and individuals suspected of evading their tax obligations. According to the statement, undeclared and under reported incomes were the most common forms of tax evasion, with nearly EUR 50 billion of ... Read More

WASHINGTON D.C. - The IRS has launched its e-File programs for 2012, offering free tax preparation software to families with incomes below USD 57 000. With the US tax filing season now well under way, on January 17th the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) relaunched its e-File system, allowing taxpayers to submit their tax returns online using free tax preparation software and tools. The e-File consist of the Free File, which provides taxpayers with free tax preparation software, and Free File Fillable Forms which ... Read More

BAKU - The process of European integration has spurred Azerbaijan to change the practices of tax authorities and improve tax compliance measures in the country. In his recently published interview, the Minister of Taxation of Azerbaijan Fazil Mammadov noted that active European integration requires a substantial increase to the effectiveness of national tax authorities, which may lead to an improvement of the national business environment and may raise the amount of foreign investment into Azerbaijan. According to the Minister, some of the key achievements ... Read More

CAPE TOWN - Embracing electronic filing technology has paid off for tax authorities in South Africa with faster processing times, higher compliance, and greater number of tax filers. On November 30th the South African Revenue Service (SARS) released a statement with final outcomes of the 2011 tax season, reporting that a greater number of tax returns were processed than in any previous year. According to the statement, 4.86 million individual tax returns were received during the tax filing season between July 1st ... Read More