As part of the Fiscal Transition Support Programme (FSTP) in West Africa, the OECD organised a transfer pricing capacity building workshop from 11-14 November 2024 in Praia, Cabo Verde, attended by representatives of the tax administrations of 14 West African states and the Commission of the West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA).
Against a backdrop of economic globalisation and heightened tax competition, where intra-group trade accounting for a significant proportion of international trade, transfer pricing audit is of vital importance to tax authorities, in the interests of greater tax equity and fair competition.
This transfer pricing workshop in Praia is the sixth in a four-year capacity-building cycle that has created a network of approximately thirty West African transfer pricing experts. It deals with transfer pricing reporting and documentation requirements that developing countries may wish to consider putting in place to promote compliance by multinational enterprises and facilitate tax audits.
At the workshop's opening ceremony, Ms. Liza Helena Vaz, National Director Tax and Customs Administration of Cabo Verde, conveyed her delight in hosting this regional workshop in Praia, highlighting its impact on the sustainable capacity building of tax administrations in West African states, in support of domestic resource mobilisation. Mr. Stefan Van Praet, Programme Manager at the European Union (EU) Delegation to Cabo Verde, stressed the EU's support for West African states in domestic resource mobilisation, to enable them to have more resources at their disposal to finance public investment and meet the needs of the population. Lastly, Ms. Samia Abdelghani, Senior Tax Adviser at the OECD, highlighted the success of the four-year transfer pricing training cycle organised by the OECD, which has enabled approximately thirty tax executives from West Africa to acquire knowledge and know-how in the audit of multinational enterprises, while providing a forum for the exchange and pooling of best practices among tax administrations in the sub-region.
FSTP, which is funded by the European Union, aims to support the implementation of tax transition programmes in West Africa following the implementation of regional trade liberalisation policies. As part of this programme, the OECD and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes are providing assistance to 16 West African states to enable them to combat tax base erosion, profit shifting and illicit financial flows more effectively, in the interests of mobilising domestic resources and improving tax transparency.
Further information on the OECD's work on building capacity in developing countries to implement international tax standards is available online: https://www.oecd.org/en/topics/tax-and-development.html
For more information on this workshop, please contact Samia Abdelghani, Senior Tax Adviser at the Global Relations and Development Division of the OECD's Centre for Tax Policy and Administration (+33 1 45 24 18 34), or ctp.communications@oecd.org.
