The Twelfth IMF-Japan High-Level Tax Conference for Asian Countries (Hybrid)

Tokyo, Japan

October 25-26, 2022

This conference, organized by the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD) and Japan’s Ministry of Finance, was attended by 55 senior officials in tax policy departments and tax administrations from 15 countries in Asia. DMD Okamura delivered an opening address, followed by a welcome address by Mr. Komiya, Deputy Director-General for International Tax Policy, Ministry of Finance, Japan and a keynote presentation by Mr. Gaspar, FAD Director. The conference comprised seven sessions and covered a wide range of emerging tax issues including tax policy in turbulent times, international taxation, VAT, and digitalization and taxation. 

The conference was financed by the Japan Administered Account for Selected IMF Activities (JSA)

Japan Tokyo Tax Conference

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Agenda-Day 1

  Time
Remarks
9:00 AM–9:30 AM
Registration
Opening Session
9:30 AM–9:40 AM
Opening Address – Mr. Kenji Okamura, Deputy Managing Director, IMF 
9:40 AM–9:50 AM
Welcome Address –Mr. Atsushi Komiya, Deputy Director-General for International Tax Policy, Tax Bureau, Ministry of Finance (MOF), Japan
9:50 AM–10:20 AM
Photo Session and Coffee Break
Session on Tax Policy in Turbulent Times
As countries learn to live with COVID-19, economic uncertainty endures due to war, volatile food and energy prices, rising inflation. This affects all countries but in different ways. Emerging and developing economies that are net importers of energy and food have been hit the hardest by surging international prices. In many countries, central banks started increasing interest rates to fight inflation. High uncertainty and marked divergences across countries require a tailored and agile fiscal policy response. Against this background, this session will discuss a role of taxation, in both tax policy and tax administration, which forms a critical part of fiscal policy measures.
10:20 AM–11:30 AM
Chair: Mr. Takuji Tanaka, former Executive Director for Japan, IMF

 

Keynote Presentation: Mr. Vitor Gaspar, Director, Fiscal Affairs Department (FAD), IMF (30 min.)

Presentation: Ms. Shaheen Akhter, Member, National Board of Revenue, Bangladesh (10 min.)

Discussant: Professor Yoshihiro Masui, University of Tokyo,

Discussions:
Session on International Taxation
11:30 AM–12:45 PM
Implementation of International Agreement on the Two Pillar Solution: Members of the Inclusive Framework (IF) agreed in 2021 on the historic Two Pillar Solution that aims to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalization of the economy. This session, based on presentation on the Two Pillar Solution and reporting on ongoing implementation efforts by selected participating countries, will discuss possible implications of the agreement for tax authorities in the region and alternative approaches that non-IF members are considering.
Chair: Mr. Kiyoshi Nakayama, Advisor, FAD

Presentations:

Mr. Ruud De Mooij, Assistant Director, FAD (15 min.) 

Mr. Achim Pross, Head of the International Co-operation and Tax Administration Division, Center for Tax Policy and Administration (CTPA), OECD (15 min.)

Mr. Kenichi Nishikata, Director, International Tax Policy, Tax Bureau, MOF, Japan (10 min.)

Ms. Pande Putu Oka Kusumawardani, Director of Center for State Revenue Policy, Ministry of Finance, Indonesia (10 min.)

Discussions:
12:45 –1:45 PM
Lunch Break
2:00 PM–3:30PM
Domestic Corporate Tax Reform under Pillar 2: Pillar 2 of the IF Agreement imposes a global minimum 15% tax rate for certain multinational enterprises with the aim to reduce profit shifting and curb harmful tax competition. This session will present the mechanism of these GLoBE rules, will discuss their impact, and will elaborate on the domestic corporate tax policy response, such as reconsideration of tax incentives regimes, which are prevalent in countries in the region.
Chair: Mr. De Mooiji, FAD

Presentations:

Mr. Nakayama, FAD (10 min.)

Mr. David Bradbury, Head of Tax Policy and Statistics Division, CTPA, OECD (15 min.)

Professor Motohiro Sato, Hitotsubashi University (10 min.)

Professor Michael Keen, Tokyo College (10 min.)

Mr. Mohd Fadale Bin Malik, Principal Assistant Secretary, Tax Division, Ministry of Finance, Malaysia (10 min.)

Ms Doreen Tan, Chief Tax Policy Officer, Ministry of Finance, Singapore (10 min.)

Ms. Phensuk Sangasubana, Director of the International Tax Affairs Center, Revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Thailand (10 min.)

Discussions:
3:30PM–4:00PM
Coffee Break
Session on Tax Administration Diagnostic Assessment Tool (TADAT)
Measuring tax administration performance helps demonstrate the positive impact of good tax administration practices on revenue outcomes. With over 130 TADAT assessments completed since its introduction several lessons have been learned. This session covers recent research from African countries indicating a positive correlation between TADAT scores and the tax to GDP ratio. This is important as countries look at ways to improve revenue collections and recover from the pandemic. The session will then address the preliminary results from the Asia-Pacific region which give early evidence of common areas for tax administration improvement in the region and show TADAT’s capacity to add fiscal value through structured administrative improvement.
 
4:00 PM–5:00 PM
Chair: Mr. Nakayama, FAD, IMF


Presentations:

Mr. Kiyoshi Nakayama, Advisor, FAD (20 min.)

Mr. Hiranya Mukhopadhyay, Chief of Governance, Asian Development Bank (ADB) (10 min.)

Discussions:

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Agenda -Day 2

Time

Remarks

Session on VAT

9:00 AM–10:30 AM

Latest Tax Policy Issues:
The VAT is an important revenue source for many governments. Yet, it can often be designed better to support revenue mobilization in an effective and efficient manner. This session will discuss the latest developments in VAT designs in Asia and elaborate on its implications for revenue, the income distribution and inflation. It also discusses policy challenges related to VAT in the digital economy.

Chair: Mr. Kafle Ananda, Joint Secretary, Planning, Monitoring and Evaluation Division, Ministry of Finance, Nepal

Presentations:

Mr. De Mooij, FAD (20min.)

Mr. Gandhi Kumar Natarajan, Director, Department of Revenue, India (10 min.)

Dr. Lamy Mong, Chief of Tax Policy Bureau of General Department of Taxation (GDT), Ministry of Economy and Finance of Cambodia (10 min.)

Discussions:

10:30 AM–11:00 AM

Coffee Break

11:00 AM–12:30 PM

Latest Tax Administration Issues: 
An ideal VAT system has a broad base, a single rate, few exceptions, and effective refund mechanisms. However real-world VATs often differ, leading to administration challenges. This session will address the latest issues including VAT compliance, administration considerations for VAT and the digital economy, and good practice in refund management. The session will draw on issues discussed during the recent VAT webinar series IMF hosted.

Chair: Mr. Sisirakumara, Commissioner General, Inland revenue Department, Ministry of Finance, Sri Lanka

Presentations:

Ms. Cindy Negus, Capacity Development Advisor, Revenue Administration Division 1, FAD (20 min.):

Ms. Hien Pham, Deputy Director, Tax Policy Department, General Department of Taxation, Vietnam (10 min.)

Mr. Yon Arsal, Assistant of Minister for Tax Compliance, MOF, Indonesia (10 min.)

Discussions:

12:30 PM–1:45 PM

Lunch Break

Session on Digitalization

1:45 PM–3:00 PM

Digital Money and Tax Policy:

Digitalization provides several opportunities and challenges for tax policy makers. This session focuses on one aspect of digitalization: the emergence of several forms of digital money. For instance, while some countries have imposed taxes on mobile money payments, others are dealing with the question how to apply current tax rules in income taxation, wealth taxation and VAT to crypto assets. This session will discuss options and experiences in Asian countries.

Chair: Mr. Ranjan Kumar Singh, Director, Foreign Tax and Tax Research (CBDT), Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, India

Presentations:

Mr. De Mooij, FAD (20 min.)

Professor Katsufumi Kurihara, Graduate School of Business Science, Tsukuba University (10 min.)

Discussions:

3:00 PM–3:15 PM

Coffee Break

3:15 PM-4:30PM

Digitalization Potential for Tax Administration: 

With momentum for digitalization reinvigorating tax administration, this session will discuss the potential new value that digitalization may provide. The session will open with a presentation on current trends and thinking before focusing on the need to ensure the integrity of automated core operations, information security, and the scalability of digital services for headquarters, field offices, and taxpayers. Having addressed fundamental digitalization topics, areas of new potential value will be presented, including active management of digitalization “ecosystems”, design of taxpayer-centered services, transition to data-driven administration, emerging technology, organizational re-design, and related aspects of workforce transformation.

Chair: Mr. Amir Zainuddin Abdul Hamid, Section Director, Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia

Presentations:

Mr. Margaret Cotton, Capacity Development Advisor, Revenue Administration Division 1, FAD (20 min.)

Ms. Eri Kataoka, Deputy Director, International Operations Division, National Tax Agency, Japan (10 min.)

Mr. Mukhopadhyay, ADB (10min.)

Mr. Lam Chee Han, Senior Manager, Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore, Singapore (10 min.)

Mr. Arsal, MOF, Indonesia (10 min.)

Discussions:

Concluding Session

4:30 PM–4:45 PM

Concluding Remarks—Mr. De Mooij, FAD