The Federal Tax Service of Russia
Published: 11.10.2021 14:00
The priorities of audit procedures and the management of audit procedures were discussed at the meeting of the CIS Tax Commissioners’ Coordination Council (hereinafter referred to as the Council), which was held in the format of a videoconference chaired by the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia.
The parties noted that the approaches to organizing and improving the effectiveness of tax control in the CIS countries are largely similar. The main priorities in this direction are to reduce the number of tax audits by concentrating on the most risky areas and reducing the administrative burden on bona fide taxpayers. Modern information technologies and the development of analytical tools help tax administrations achieve these tasks.
Julia Shepeleva, Deputy Commissioner of the Federal Tax Service of Russia, spoke about the analytical system of a risk-based approach to the control of foreign trade operations. Within this approach, the strategy of selecting objects of control is implemented by creating centralized mechanisms based on information coming from both internal sources of information—resources developed in the Federal Tax Service of Russia—and external ones, which include resources within government contracts as well as resources of other federal executive authorities. These sources are used to determine the risks in cross-border transactions for Russian taxpayers, which makes it possible to rapidly analyze and provide macroeconomic information regarding certain passive income payments.
Before the meeting of the commissioners of tax administrations, a meeting of experts from the Council was held. The participants discussed the implementation of automatic exchange of information on income and property of individuals and legal entities between the CIS member states; methods used by tax authorities to determine the level of satisfaction of taxpayers with the policy of the tax administration; and the practice of applying double taxation agreements in the CIS member states.
The parties also outlined further directions for the development of tax cooperation within the CIS. The Federal Tax Service of Russia has been instructed to continue the implementation of automatic exchange of information as well as to coordinate the study of electronic data interchange in the CIS member states.
The Council meeting was dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Council. Tax Commissioners agreed that the solution to many tasks that tax administrations face depends on active regional and multilateral cooperation, and the Council plays an important role related to this, remaining a flexible platform for the complex interaction of the parties and the formation of the international tax agenda.
The meeting of the CIS Council was attended by delegations of the Republic of Azerbaijan, the Republic of Armenia, the Republic of Belarus, the Republic of Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, the Republic of Moldova, the Russian Federation, and the Republic of Tajikistan, representatives of the CIS Executive Committee, and the Basic Organization of the CIS Member States for Training, Professional Retraining, and Advanced Training of Personnel in the Field of Taxation. Representatives of the State Tax Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan participated as observers.
The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for the second half of 2022 in the Republic of Belarus.