Why is it in the News?

India will help Saint Lucia in strengthening its tax administration by transferring technical knowledge and skills to its tax administration, and sharing best practices under the ‘Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) programme’.

Key Highlights:

• India has been chosen as the Partner Administration and will provide Tax Experts for this programme.
• This programme is expected to be of 12-18 months’ duration in which India, in collaboration with the TIWB Secretariat and support of the UNDP Country Office, Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, aims to aid Saint Lucia in strengthening its tax administration by transferring technical knowledge and skills to its tax administration, and through sharing of best practices.
• The focus of the programme will be on the effective use of automatic exchange of information under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) framework.

What is Tax Inspectors without Borders programme?

• Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB) is a joint initiative of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
• It is designed to support developing countries to build tax audit capacity.
• TIWB facilitates well-targeted, specialised tax audit assistance in developing countries around the world.
• Under TIWB, tax audit experts work alongside local officials of developing country tax administrations on tax audit and tax audit-related issues.
• TIWB aims to transfer technical know-how and skills to developing countries’ tax auditors, as well as share general audit practices.
• The host administrations of developing countries are the lead partners in TIWB programmes, clearly specifying their needs and scope of work.
• A dedicated central unit (TIWB Secretariat) jointly managed by OECD and UNDP operates as a clearing house to match the demand for auditing assistance with appropriate expertise.
• TIWB is a capacity-building programme.