| Tax Inspectors Without Borders | |
|---|---|
| Name | Tax Inspectors Without Borders |
| Formation | 2015 |
| Type | International technical assistance |
| Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
| Parent organization | Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development |
Tax Inspectors Without Borders is an international initiative providing tax audit and transfer pricing capacity building to low- and middle-income jurisdictions, operating through expert secondments and in-country engagements to support revenue administrations, multinational enterprise casework, and tax policy implementation. It works with a range of multilateral organizations, bilateral partners, universities, and professional firms to strengthen audit skills and dispute resolution, often collaborating with agencies involved in international development, tax treaties, and anti-corruption efforts.
Tax Inspectors Without Borders engages tax officials, auditors, and advisors to provide hands-on fieldwork-style mentoring in partner jurisdictions, linking technical experts from Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development networks, United Nations bodies, and regional institutions. The initiative focuses on areas such as transfer pricing disputes involving multinational enterprises and cross-border transactions, complementing work by International Monetary Fund missions, World Bank reform programs, and regional tax organizations like the African Union tax-related initiatives and the Inter-American Development Bank capacity-building projects. It draws expertise from professional associations including Big Four accounting firms alumni, academic centers such as London School of Economics, Harvard Law School tax clinics, and think tanks like the Brookings Institution.
Founded in 2015 under the auspices of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and United Nations Development Programme, the initiative built on prior projects involving the International Development Association and bilateral cooperation from donor states such as United Kingdom, Germany, France, Canada, and Sweden. Early pilots worked with partners including the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority, Kenya Revenue Authority, and Zambia Revenue Authority, drawing on expertise from former officials of Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, Internal Revenue Service, and Canada Revenue Agency. Over time the program expanded through relationships with regional entities such as the African Tax Administration Forum, the Economic Community of West African States, and the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States, while aligning with international standards like the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project and the United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention.
Governance involves coordination among the OECD Secretariat, partnering agencies such as the United Nations Development Programme, and donor governments including the European Union institutions and development agencies like USAID and DFID (now part of Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office). Operational partnerships extend to professional bodies like the International Federation of Accountants, academic partners including Columbia University, University of Oxford, and private sector contributors from firms with alumni networks in PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, and KPMG. Collaborations with dispute-resolution institutions such as International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and regional courts inform capacity for handling contentious cases.
Programs emphasize in-country secondments, joint audits, and expert mentoring on complex issues such as transfer pricing for multinational enterprises, negotiated settlements, and advance pricing agreements that echo practices from Mutual Agreement Procedure cases and Double Taxation Treaties adjudication. Activities include workshops with tax administrations like South African Revenue Service, Ghana Revenue Authority, and Rwanda Revenue Authority; training modules developed with IMF Fiscal Affairs Department and university tax clinics at institutions such as University of Cape Town and National University of Singapore; and regional courses hosted with the African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, and Caribbean Development Bank.
Independent assessments by entities including the World Bank and academic evaluations from London School of Economics researchers report increases in audit yield, improved transfer pricing adjustments, and strengthened audit case management in participating jurisdictions. Case studies cite recoveries and negotiated settlements involving multinational corporations and cross-border tax disputes, and alignment with Base Erosion and Profit Shifting countermeasures promoted by the OECD/G20 process. Impact measurement engages program monitoring tools comparable to evaluations used by UNDP and IMF technical assistance reviews, while peer-reviewed studies in journals associated with Cambridge University Press and Oxford University Press analyze effectiveness and capacity retention.
Funding derives from donor governments including Norway, Netherlands, Japan, and Switzerland, multilateral contributions from the European Commission, and in-kind support from partner organizations like UNDP and the OECD. Human resources encompass secondees from national tax authorities such as Australian Taxation Office, New Zealand Inland Revenue, and German Federal Ministry of Finance alumni, plus technical experts from professional services firms and academia including scholars from Stanford University and Yale University. Training materials and knowledge products are produced in collaboration with institutions like International Bureau of Fiscal Documentation and archived in repositories used by Development Assistance Committee members.
Critics include scholars from Harvard University and University of Oxford who question sustainability, dependency risks, and potential conflicts when private-sector experts advise on cases involving former employers or clients, echoing concerns raised in analyses by Transparency International and reports from Global Financial Integrity. Operational challenges cited by practitioners involve legal limits tied to domestic tax treaty frameworks, resource constraints similar to those faced by International Monetary Fund missions, and political economy obstacles documented in country studies by the World Bank Group and United Nations agencies. Ensuring independence, local ownership, and long-term institutional capacity remains a recurring theme in policy debates among donor governments, recipient tax administrations, and civil society groups such as Oxfam and ActionAid.
Category:International taxation