The Federal
Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has again taken a step towards containing tax
avoidance and evasion in Nigeria. The agency signed two major multilateral
agreements to join 71 other countries to fight tax evasion.

On behalf of the
FIRS, Mr. Tunde Fowler has signed a multilateral convention to implement Tax
Treaty Related Measures to Prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting and the
Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement. This
agreement was signed in Paris with the Head Global Relations and Development
Division of the organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
These agreements
would avail the FIRS with the “automatic exchange of tax and financial
information among 101 tax jurisdictions and enhance the ability of countries to
contain tax avoidance and evasion.”
It will also help
the countries to share financial data.
The MLI is a
legal instrument designed to prevent Base Erosion and Profit Shifting by
multinational enterprises.
It allows
jurisdictions to transpose results from the OECD/G20 BEPS project, including
minimum standards to implement in tax treaties to prevent treaty abuse and
“treaty shopping”, into their existing networks of bilateral tax treaties in a
quick and efficient manner.
The CRS MCAA is a
multilateral competent authority agreement based on Article 6 of the
Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters,
which aims to implement the automatic exchange of financial account information
pursuant to the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard and to deliver the automatic
exchange of CRS information between 101 jurisdictions by 2018.
Senior Tax Advisor at TAC Professional
Services

Ed’s Note – This article was first
published here

Photo Credit – Here