Business and Economics > Corporate Taxation

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International Monetary Fund. Middle East and Central Asia Dept.
METAC assisted the Libyan Tax Authority in reviewing tax forms to enhance taxpayer data collection. The proposed data set will significantly expand existing information, improving the completeness of taxpayer records and greatly aiding the risk assessment process.
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This report presents estimates of the Corporate Income Tax (CIT) gap for Armenia for the period 2020–2022. The CIT gap is based on a bottom-up approach using operational audits. The average CIT gap in Armenia is estimated at 26.4-35.2 percent of potential CIT liability.
Fernanda Brollo
,
Era Dabla-Norris
,
Ruud de Mooij
,
Daniel Garcia-Macia
,
Tibor Hanappi
,
Li Liu
, and
Anh D. M. Nguyen
Generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) holds immense potential to boost productivity growth and advance public service delivery, but it also raises profound concerns about massive labor disruptions and rising inequality. This note discusses how fiscal policies can be employed to steer the technology and its deployment in ways that serve humanity best while cushioning the negative labor market and distributional effects to broaden the gains. Given the vast uncertainty about the nature, impact, and speed of developments in gen AI, governments should take an agile approach that prepares them for both business as usual and highly disruptive scenarios.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper provides an international perspective to the authorities’ two recent policy measures: setting up new savings and counter cyclical and climate infrastructure funds and reforming the judicial review of planning decisions in Ireland. The first essay presents international best practices in the design and operation of sovereign wealth funds that could inform the setup of the two new funds in Ireland. It highlights the importance of operating the funds within a strong fiscal policy framework. The second essay reviews Ireland’s planning and permitting system, underscoring the key elements that have hindered public investment. It also looks into the government’s proposed Bill to reform the planning system and contrasts its key features with those of other international jurisdictions. It finds that several issues may contribute to the inefficiencies in the planning and judicial review system, such as the loose standing requirements and lack of mandatory timelines related to judicial review, as well as institutional governance issues within the planning board, which the newly proposed reforms and legislative measures seek to address.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This 2023 Article IV Consultation highlights that Ireland’s economy has shown remarkable resilience in the face of consecutive shocks. The Irish economy has displayed remarkable resilience in the face of recent consecutive shocks and is well-positioned to achieve a soft landing. Growth is expected to moderate to a still solid level in 2023-24, from a very high base, as tighter financial conditions, domestic capacity constraints, and weakening external demand weigh on the economy. Continued fiscal prudence is warranted to complement monetary tightening in sustaining disinflation and to build adequate buffers for the future. As fiscal policy should avoid adding to aggregate demand amid still elevated inflation, tax revenue over performance should be saved. The 2023 fiscal stance is appropriate. Fiscal policy should support growth-enhancing investment and broaden the tax base. The authorities’ decision to save part of excess corporate income tax revenues in two savings funds is welcome. Tighter financial conditions, persistent inflation, and rising vulnerabilities in the commercial real estate market with linkages to leveraged non-banks call for continued heightened vigilance of financial stability risks.
Seho Kim
,
Pablo Lopez Murphy
, and
Rui Xu
In Japan, corporate savings have risen since 2000 in line with profits. A large share of the additional savings was kept as cash holdings (i.e., cash and short-term investments) rather than used for investment. Building on a rich literature, this paper identifies two additional drivers of corporate cash holdings using financial data of public and private Japanese firms. First, a higher share of intangible capital is associated with more cash holdings. This indicates the presence of financial frictions as intangible capital is not easily collateralizable. Such financial friction could be alleviated by shifting towards cash flow-based lending that is prevalent in the United States (US). Second, corporate tax cuts are associated with more cash holdings while having no significant effect on investment. Given the significant fiscal cost, the efficiency of corporate tax cuts should be re-evaluated.
International Monetary Fund. Fiscal Affairs Dept.
This paper discusses the estimates of tax gaps for corporate income tax (CIT) for nonfinancial corporations in Slovenia by applying the methodology of the IMF’s Revenue Administration – Gap Analysis Program (RA-GAP). The RA-GAP methodology for CIT gap is based on a top-down approach, which estimates the potential tax base and liability from macroeconomic data. The top-down estimation of the CIT gap provides an initial evaluation of the level and change in taxpayers’ compliance; however, further work in some areas is needed to improve the application of the methodology and reliability of results. Assessed CIT for nonfinancial corporations dropped from 2011 to 2012 then rose until 2020; potential CIT roughly followed the same pattern. The estimates for the assessment gap for nonfinancial corporations indicate there may have been an increase in 2012, and then a decline back to the 2011 levels. Under either method, the bulk of the assessment gap appears to be in the manufacturing sector.
Mario Mansour
and
Eric M. Zolt
Personal income taxes (PITs) play little or no role in the Middle East and North Africa, often yielding less than 2 percent of GDP in revenue—with the exception of few North African countries. This paper examines how PITs have evolved in recent decades, and what they might look like in the next 20 years. Top marginal tax rates on labor and business income of individuals have declined substantially, a trend that mirrors reductions in advanced and developing economies. Taxation of passive capital income has changed very little, and the revenue intake from this source remains low throughout the region (less than 1 percent of GDP on average and concentrated in oil-importing non-fragile states). Social security contributions (SSC) have increased in importance in nearly all MENA countries, and some countries have introduced additional payroll taxes. The combination of reduced marginal tax rates, light taxation of income from capital and business activities, and increase of SSC, have resulted in income tax systems that create disincentives to work and incentives for informality, and contribute little to government revenue and income redistribution. Given differences in economic and political structures, demographics, and starting points, the path to PIT/SSC reforms will vary across the region. Countries with relatively mature PIT/SSC systems, where revenue performance has improved in the past two decades, will increasingly need to balance the revenue and equity objectives against effciency objectives (in particular labor market incentives and infromality). Countries with no PITs will have to weigh whether a consumption tax/SSC system that mimic a flat tax on labor income is sufficient to diversify revenue away from oil and whether to adopt PITs to address rising income and wealth inequality. Finally, fragile states, who face more political volatility and weaker fiscal institutions, will have to focus on simplicity of tax design and collection to be able to raise revenue from PITs.
Dominika Langenmayr
and
Ms. Li Liu
In 2009, the United Kingdom abolished the taxation of profits earned abroad and introduced a territorial tax system. Under the territorial system, firms have strong incentives to shift profits abroad. Using a difference-in-differences research design, we show that the profitability of UK subsidiaries in low-tax countries increased after the reform compared to subsidiaries of non-UK multinationals in the same countries by an average of 2 percentage points. This increase in profit shifting also leads to increases in measured productivity of the foreign affiliates of UK multinationals of between 5 and 9 percent.
International Monetary Fund. European Dept.
This Selected Issues paper on Ireland focuses on ensuring an inclusive and growth-enhancing fiscal policy mix. It assesses the scope for improving the tax system toward a more growth-friendly structure, and for achieving efficiency gains in public expenditure. It also discusses upcoming impediments to long term fiscal sustainability and proposes options to achieve a more growth friendly and equity-enhancing revenue and expenditure policy mix. Under the 2021 National Development Plan, the government plans to significantly expand investment to historically high levels over the medium term. Good progress has been achieved in raising public spending efficiency but there is scope for further improvement. The stylized facts highlight the need for reforms to broaden the tax base and find new and stable sources of revenues as well as improving public expenditure efficiency. Public spending should focus on growth-friendly spending and reducing efficiency gaps. Decisive reforms are needed to ensure the future sustainability of the pension system and safeguard long term fiscal sustainability.