Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

Turnover (sales) is frequently used in developing countries as a presumptive income tax base, to economize on the costs of tax administration and taxpayer compliance. We construct a simple model where a size threshold separates firms paying turnover tax from those paying profit tax (regular income tax), and where firms have the option of producing in the untaxed, informal sector. The optimal turnover tax rate trades off two policy concerns: reducing informality and avoiding strategic reductions in sales by firms seeking to remain below the threshold for the profit tax. We provide analytical results and calibrate the model to compute the optimal policy using realistic parameter values. The optimal turnover tax rate for countries with large informal sectors is found to be around 2.5% across most scenarios, while the threshold separating the turnover tax regime from profit tax lies for the most part between $65,000 and $95,000. Introducing an optimally designed turnover tax reduces the rate of informality of businesses by about 12 percentage points in the calibrated model.

Business Taxes and Subsidies --- Compliance costs --- Currency crises --- Economic & financial crises & disasters --- Economics of specific sectors --- Economics --- Economics: General --- Efficiency --- Fiscal Policies and Behavior of Economic Agents: Firm --- Formal and Informal Sectors --- Income tax --- Informal sector --- Institutional Arrangements --- Macroeconomics --- Optimal Taxation --- Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies --- Presumptive tax --- Public finance & taxation --- Public Finance --- Revenue administration --- Revenue --- Sales tax --- Sales tax, tariffs & customs duties --- Shadow Economy --- Spendings tax --- Tax administration and procedure --- Tax Evasion and Avoidance --- Tax return filing compliance --- Taxation --- Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General --- Taxes

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This technical assistance (TA) report on Anguilla focuses on modernization of the customs legislative framework. The mission prepared a framework for a customs Act in line with the recommendations made in the Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Center (CARTAC) TA Assignment Report of April 2022. A major challenge for the customs administration will be growing the capacity to be able to deliver all that has been added into the Act. The full automation of customs procedures and implementation of risk management principles may also be a challenge. However, automation is the foundation of any customs modernization program. It is the key to move to a more efficient and informed administration of customs controls. The mission prepared a synoptic table highlighted by color codes to summarize the required, recommended and suggested additions to the Customs Act. The Synoptic Table list the general principles of the main provisions highlighted green in the draft Customs Act. These are listed in three categories, red, being principles that are required to be implemented; yellow, being principles that are recommended to be implemented and, green being those principles that are suggested to be implemented.

Money and Monetary Policy --- International Economics --- Public Finance --- Monetary Policy --- International Agreements and Observance --- International Organizations --- Trade Policy --- International Trade Organizations --- Monetary economics --- International institutions --- Sales tax, tariffs & customs duties --- Public finance & taxation --- International trade & commerce --- Monetary policy --- International organization --- Customs administration core functions --- Revenue administration --- Customs procedures --- Authorized economic operator --- International agencies --- Customs administration --- Anguilla, United Kingdom-British Overseas Territory

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This Technical Assistance Report on Lebanon focuses on tax and customs administration’s an urgent need for intervention. Recognizing a downward trajectory, national dialogue on the future of Lebanon’s tax and customs administrations is urgently needed. Inaction and underinvestment to deal with these challenges will forego substantial revenues and prolong the effects of the crisis. Options to help reverse the decline in revenue administration exist, and structural mechanisms for financing reform and modernization need to be explored. An immediate intervention is required to stabilize information technology operations and ensure the continuity of the value added tax and Revenue Directorates’ core operations. Having addressed immediate needs, ‘quick wins’ in tax administration should be pursued while consensus on more substantive reforms is achieved. The report recommends that overreach of the Higher Customs Council beyond administrative policy into operations should cease while work continues to introduce a new organizational structure. The consequence is an inability to readily implement change or effectively manage critical operations.

Auditing / Audits --- Auditing --- Business Taxes and Subsidies --- Customs administration core functions --- Customs administration --- International agencies --- International Agreements and Observance --- International Economics --- International institutions --- International organization --- International Organizations --- International Trade Organizations --- Monetary economics --- Monetary Policy --- Monetary policy --- Money and Monetary Policy --- Public finance & taxation --- Public Finance --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Revenue administration --- Revenue --- Sales tax, tariffs & customs duties --- Spendings tax --- Tax administration and procedure --- Tax administration core functions --- Taxation --- Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General --- Taxes --- Trade Policy --- Value-added tax --- Lebanon

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This technical assistance report on Benin presents the governance diagnostic. The current President of the Republic Patrice Talon has repeatedly stressed the major importance of good governance for the country’s future and has made it a strong focus of his second term. The Governance Diagnostic shed light on very positive developments in recent or ongoing reforms, but also highlighted what needs to be done to overcome the weaknesses in governance in some areas. Rule of law, contract execution, and protection of property rights have seen some progress. The planned creation of a court specializing in land matters and the establishment of a Commercial Court of Appeal will be welcome additions. Public financial management has seen considerable progress, recognized in particular by the Open Budget Survey 2021. Nevertheless, efforts must still be made to reap all the benefits of the transition to program-based budgeting as far as the administration’s accountability is concerned and to finalize the internal audit and control reform, an essential counterweight to the new responsibilities entrusted to managers.

Money and Monetary Policy --- International Economics --- Criminology --- Public Finance --- Monetary Policy --- International Agreements and Observance --- International Organizations --- Bureaucracy --- Administrative Processes in Public Organizations --- Corruption --- Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law --- Trade Policy --- International Trade Organizations --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Public Administration --- Public Sector Accounting and Audits --- Monetary economics --- International institutions --- Corporate crime --- white-collar crime --- Sales tax, tariffs & customs duties --- Public finance & taxation --- Auditing / Audits --- Monetary policy --- International organization --- Crime --- Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) --- Customs administration core functions --- Revenue administration --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Internal audit --- International agencies --- Money laundering --- Customs administration --- Finance, Public --- Auditing, Internal --- Benin --- White-collar crime

Choose an application

• Reference Manager
• EndNote
• RefWorks (Direct export to RefWorks)

This SIP provides an overview of the governance diagnostic mission conducted in early 2021 by experts from the IMF’s Fiscal Affairs and Legal Departments, along three main pillars - the rule of law, tax and customs administration, and public financial management. The SIP assesses progress made, identifies key weaknesses, and a list of measures to guide immediate and future reforms.

Administrative Processes in Public Organizations --- Anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism (AML/CFT) --- Bureaucracy --- Central Banks and Their Policies --- Corporate crime --- Corruption --- Crime --- Criminology --- Customs administration core functions --- Customs administration --- Deflation --- Finance, Public --- Illegal Behavior and the Enforcement of Law --- Inflation --- International agencies --- International Agreements and Observance --- International Economics --- International institutions --- International organization --- International Organizations --- International Trade Organizations --- Monetary economics --- Monetary Policy --- Monetary policy --- Money and Monetary Policy --- Money laundering --- National Government Expenditures and Related Policies: General --- Price Level --- Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles: Forecasting and Simulation --- Public finance & taxation --- Public Finance --- Public financial management (PFM) --- Revenue administration --- Sales tax, tariffs & customs duties --- Tax administration and procedure --- Tax administration core functions --- Taxation --- Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue: General --- Trade Policy --- White-collar crime --- Mali