First virtual meeting of tax experts of extended BRICS family was held on March 14, 2024, under Russian Chairmanship in BRICS. Representatives of tax authorities of Russia, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, China, India and Iran discussed BRICS tax cooperation strategy for 2024.
Based on the areas of collaboration that were agreed by the BRICS Tax Heads at the Cape Town meeting last November, participants agreed to continue capacity building through more structured exchange of best practices and to scope the areas of collaboration into specific topical Working Groups. BRICS members selected the topics of most interest through the survey, and established four Working Groups:
- VAT modernization (with South Africa and Iran as co-leaders)
- Sourcing and Use of Data (with Brazil and Russia as co-leaders)
- Client-Centric Approach in Tax Administration (with UAE and Russia as co-leaders)
- HR-Practices in Tax Administration (with Russia as a lead)
It was also decided to continue and further develop the initiatives on Women in Tax Network (WIT) and Young Tax Professionals Working Group (YTPWG) started last year by South African Colleagues.
Setup meeting participants also discussed the last-year initiative to adopt the agreement on the BRICS Heads of Tax Authorities Forum Governance Framework that is largely important for better institutionalizing of BRICS tax cooperation and sustaining a systematic approach to the engagement of BRICS members. At the BRICS Tax Heads meeting in Cape Town the document was broadly supported by BRICS members. It was decided that the agreement would be adopted by the Commissioners of BRICS Tax Authorities in September this year.
