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

Swiss bankers are breathing a sigh of relief as the banking giant Credit Suisse reaches a multimillion dollar settlement with German tax authorities. In a statement made by representatives of Credit Suisse on September 19th in Dusseldorf, the bank announced that a solution has been reached to the ongoing animosity with German tax authorities. The disputes centered on accusations that Credit Suisse staff knowingly aided German taxpayers in evading their tax obligations in Germany through the use of Credit Suisse bank accounts. ... Read More

Indian tax authorities will soon overhaul their IT systems, in order to introduce a new centralized sales tax, and improve tax compliance. Following a meeting between the Minister of Finance of India Pranab Mukherjee and the Chairman of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers Sushil Modi on August 3rd, it was reveled that the country is scheduled to take its first practical steps towards implementing the long delayed Goods and Service Tax. At the conclusion of the meeting the Finance Minister announced ... Read More

The Greek Finance Ministry is scrambling to revise the country’s tax system, as the nation faces extensive austerity measures and rising debts. In a statement made in Athens on July 5th, the recently appointed Finance Minister of Greece Evangelos Venizelos said that the country will need to rapidly launch a number of initiatives to stem the country’s worsening recession and return the economy back to growth. Before July 8th Evangelos Venizelos is expected to launch a government committee that will be charged ... Read More

The Australian Taxation Office has indicated that it will soon begin taking a more proactive approach in collecting unpaid taxes, after its annual report showed that the national uncollected tax level increased by 20 percent over the 2009 - 2010 fiscal year. The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has released its Commissioner of Taxation Annual Report 2009-10, which outlines the annual internal performance of the ATO. According to the report, over the 2009 - 2010 fiscal year the total uncollected debt figure of taxpayers ... Read More

Local authorities in Italy are set to receive greater tax powers, after a new ruling was passed by the Government granting them ability to retain some tax collections and alter their local business tax rates. In an attempt to improve efficiency in tax collections and revenue expenditure, the Italian Government approved new legislation that will grant local authorities greater tax powers. The new legislative proposal was announced by Giulio Tremonti, Italy's Minister of Economy and Finance, on October 8th at a press conference, ... Read More