Platform for collaboration on tax strengthened support to countries during the Covid-19 pandemic

The Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) – a joint initiative of the IMF, OECD, UN and the World Bank (WB) – enhanced its support to countries in the area of domestic resource mobilisation during the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the PCT Progress Report 2021.

The report, released today, highlights that the PCT Partners are committed to deepening their tax collaboration further with a revamped work program to help countries develop resilient tax systems and better fiscal policies in response to the crisis.

The PCT Progress Report 2021 examines activities that the PCT has undertaken in five focus areas since July 2020: medium-term revenue strategies (MTRS), Covid-19, tax and sustainable development goals (SDGs), international taxation, and coordination. The new workstreams reflect the changing global tax landscape and the challenges of the pandemic for governments and policymakers as countries around the world try to balance the increased spending and lower revenues due to the Covid-19 crisis.

During this period, the PCT Partners increased their support to countries through the release of joint knowledge products, technical assistance concerning tax-related responses to the crisis, and workshops on critical issues, as the report reveals. The PCT released the final versions of two toolkits on Transfer Pricing Documentation and Tax Treaty Negotiations with virtual consultations and public workshops, hosting over 1,300 participants from governments and other stakeholders.

Additionally, the PCT Secretariat collaborated with the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to hold three regional workshops on MTRS, which provided 53 governments from Africa, Asia and the Pacific with a platform to exchange information on how the MTRS can benefit their tax system reform in the face of the pandemic. The PCT Partners also raised awareness on the role of taxation in promoting gender equality and growth through a joint blog and a public workshop.

The report illustrates that the PCT website continues to serve as a global resource on international taxation for tax officials from developing and emerging economies with its enriched content. The MTRS resource page, the e-learning calendar of the PCT Partners’ tax-related courses and the regularly updated Online Integrated Platform, which is the public database of domestic resource mobilisation activities and projects of the Partners, are among the new and existing products that provide countries with capacity-building support and transparent information.

Looking ahead, the PCT Partners will, in the coming months, focus on areas where coordination brings the most value by identifying new priorities and activities for their work in light of the recent developments in the global tax agenda. Further activities on the interconnection between tax and SDGs, more and improved resource pages on the PCT website and expanded engagement with countries on the PCT toolkits and MTRS are among the future PCT initiatives that aim to offer tax officials more capacity-building tools and resources.

The Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT) is a joint initiative of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the United Nations (UN) and the World Bank Group (WBG). The PCT Secretariat is generously supported by the governments of France, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, according to the IMF.