Experts and officials from 17 CIAT member tax administrations as well as from the OECD, GIZ and CIAT met in the city of Guatemala on May 2-5, 2011 to discuss transfer pricing and tax information exchange.

This seminar-workshop on “Transfer Pricing and Tax Information Exchange” was successfully held within the framework of the international cooperation agreements signed between the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations-CIAT and the Agency for International Cooperation from Germany, GIZ, as well as between CIAT and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development-OECD, with the sponsorship of the Superintendency of Tax Administration of Guatemala and was aimed at strengthening and modernizing the international taxation areas and the administrative structures of the tax administrations of the CIAT member countries.

The activity originated from the need expressed by the SAT of Guatemala for strengthening the capabilities of its officials for controlling international operations and was aimed at disseminating through the experts of the tax administrations, the experiences of countries with varying levels of development in controlling the abusive manipulation of transfer prices and based on such experiences, discuss aspects of interest of the participating countries and explore future cooperation actions.

The event was inaugurated by the Superintendent of Tax Administration of Guatemala, Mr. Rudy Villeda Vanegas, the CIAT International Cooperation Manager, Mr. Gonzalo Arias and the OECD Expert on Transfer Pricing, Mr. Wolgang Büttner.  Other distinguished speakers from eight different tax administrations of CIAT member countries were: Mrs. Dolores Gil Esnal, from of AFIP of Argentina; Mr. Roberto Caparroz de Almeida, from Brazil; Mr. Víctor Gajardo, from the SII of Chile; Mrs. Luz Myriam Martínez Parra, from the DIAN of Colombia; Mr. Jairo Godoy, from the SRI of Ecuador; Mr. Franck Duval, from the DGFIP of France; Mr. Marcelo López, from the DGI of Uruguay; Mrs. Adriana García Martínez, from SENIAT of Venezuela; as well as Mr. Wolfgang Büttner, OECD expert and the CIAT International Cooperation Manager, Mr. Gonzalo Arias, who lectured on “Key aspects for an effective tax information exchange”. Also present were the distinguished Programs Director of the German Agency for International Cooperation, Mr. Jörg Wisner, and representatives from other nine tax administrations members of CIAT: Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Kenya, Panama and Paraguay as well as a significant number of  officials from the Superintendency of Tax Administration and Ministry of Finance of  Guatemala.

It was perceived in this event that there is a certain consensus on the part of the Latin American countries in implementing, improving and effectively applying systems for controlling the abusive manipulation of transfer pricing, which was evidenced in the knowledge shown by officials on the subject, the experiences presented and the accuracy with which they posed their needs.

After the Seminar-Workshop, a meeting was held in the city of Antigua, Guatemala, on May 6, wherein the expert speakers who attended the Seminar provided technical assistance to the SAT and Ministry of Finance officials in response to their specific requests.

See: Panel of speakers

Official Photo: Transfer Pricing and Tax Information Exchange.		In the picture: Wolfgang Büttner, Transfer Pricing Adviser at OECD; Isaac Gonzalo Arias Esteban, by CIAT; and Mr. Jörg Wisner, Programs Director of the GIZ of Germany