Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters

Overview

The Ad Hoc Group of Experts on Tax Treaties between Developed and Developing Countries was established in 1968 pursuant to the ECOSOC resolution 1273 (XLIII) of 4 August 1967 after considerable efforts made by the League of Nations, the Organization for European Economic Cooperation and the United Nations. In 1980, the Group of Experts finalized the United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries, whose aim was to promote the conclusion of treaties between developed and developing countries, acceptable to both parties and would fully safeguard their respective revenue interests.

Accordingly, in its resolution 1980/13 of 28 April 1980, the ECOSOC gave a broad title to the Group, namely, "Ad Hoc Group of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters" and increased its membership from 20 to 25 drawn from tax administrators of 10 developed and 15 developing countries and economies in transition. The Group of Experts finds its mandate in ECOSOC resolution 1273 (XLIII), which "requests the Secretary-General to set up and ad hoc working group consisting of experts and tax administrators nominated by the Government, but acting in their personal capacity, both from developed and developing countries and adequately representing different regions and tax systems, with task of exploring, in consultation with interested international agencies, ways and means of facilitating the conclusion of tax treaties between developed and developing countries."

The mandate of the Group of Experts has been broadened to include the tax treaties between developed and developing countries as well as bearing on international cooperation in tax matters. Therefore, the Group of Experts examines, transfer pricing; mutual assistance in collection of debts and protocol for the mutual assistance procedure; treaty shopping and treaty abuses; interaction of tax, trade and investment; financial taxation and equity market development; tax treatment of cross-border interest income and capital flight; and taxation of electronic commerce.

By its resolution 2004/69 of 11 November 2004, the ECOSOC renamed the Group the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters.

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