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2018 General Report on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 3 Jun, 25 | Articles

Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights | IBFD, 2019

This report summarizes the monitored developments concerning the effective protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in 42 countries until 31 December 2018. These were with regard to, on one hand, the effective implementation into domestic law of legal procedures, safeguards and guarantees associated with taxpayers’ rights, and on the other hand, an annual comparison by jurisdiction of the level of compliance of the minimum standards and best practices identified by Baker and Pistone in Basel, 2015, in the following areas: read more…

Towards a Taxpayers’ Rights Compliant Cross-Border Recovery of Tax Sanctions

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 5 May, 23 | Articles

World Tax Journal Vol. 15 No. 1 | IBFD, 2023

Co-authored with Robert Attard

A faltering procedure for cross-border enforcement of sanctions under the Council Directive 2010/24/EU of 16 March 2010 concerning mutual assistance for the recovery of claims relating to taxes, duties and other measures (TRD), has contributed to a degree in uncertainty and a wavering protection of taxpayers’ rights. Against this background, the article proposes taxpayers’ rights (due process, proportionality, non bis in idem) as minimum standards for the applicability of the TRD in the area of tax sanctions. In this regard, the article revisits the scope of the TRD, and advocates for a standardization of the definition of sanctions to whose recovery the TRD is applicable (namely, amounts imposed for deterrent purposes, definitively imposed after due process of law and respecting minimum parameters of proportionality). These minimum requirements should be regarded as essential to the cross-border recovery of tax sanctions, as they stem from EU law as part of its fundamental principles. Hence, due process, proportionality and non bis in idem standards should be fully enforceable by the requested state, without prejudice to the Member States’ broad discretion in defining and applying tax sanctions, providing taxpayers with adequate protection and further certainty.

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The IBFD Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights 2021

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 27 Aug, 21 | Articles

Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights | IBFD, 2022

This report summarizes the monitored developments concerning the effective protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in 47 countries worldwide as of 31 December 2021, compared to the status of compliance of a set of minimum standards and best practices recorded for those countries on 12 fundamental taxpayer rights areas identified by Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone and Prof. Dr Philip Baker, at the 2015 IFA Congress on The Practical Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

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The IBFD Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights 2020

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 24 Feb, 21 | Articles

Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights | IBFD, 2021

This report summarizes the monitored developments concerning the effective protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in 42 countries worldwide as of 31 December 2020, compared to the status of compliance of a set of minimum standards and best practices recorded for those countries on 12 fundamental taxpayer rights areas identified by Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone and Prof. Dr Philip Baker, at the 2015 IFA Congress on The Practical Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

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Overview of global trends in the protection of taxpayers’ rights by 2019, according to the IBFD Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights (Part 2)

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 15 Jan, 21 | Articles

Revista «Técnica Tributaria», Vol. 131, Nro. 4 | AEDAF, 2020

The article describes the current global trends in the practical protection of taxpayers’ rights, with regard to (i) confidentiality of taxpayers’ information held by the tax authorities, (ii) tax procedures, both administrative and judicial, (iii) reviews and appeals; (iv) criminal and administrative sanctions, (v) enforcement of taxes, and (vi) cross-border situations, regarding the safeguards for taxpayers in the exchange of information, based on the data of the 2019 Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights, released by the IBFD Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

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Overview of global trends in the protection of taxpayers’ rights by 2019, according to the IBFD Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights (Part 1)

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 15 Jan, 21 | Articles

Revista «Técnica Tributaria», Vol. 130, Nro. 3 | AEDAF, 2020

The article describes the current global trends in the practical protection of taxpayers’ rights, with regard to (i) confidentiality of taxpayers’ information held by the tax authorities, (ii) tax procedures, both administrative and judicial, (iii) reviews and appeals; (iv) criminal and administrative sanctions, (v) enforcement of taxes, and (vi) cross-border situations, regarding the safeguards for taxpayers in the exchange of information, based on the data of the 2019 Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights, released by the IBFD Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

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The IBFD Yearbook on Taxpayers’ Rights 2019

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 20 Apr, 20 | Articles

Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights | IBFD, 2020

This report summarizes the monitored developments concerning the effective protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in 44 countries worldwide as of 31 December 2019, compared to the status of compliance of a set of minimum standards and best practices recorded for those countries on 12 fundamental taxpayer rights areas identified by Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone and Prof. Dr Philip Baker, at the 2015 IFA Congress on The Practical Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights.

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Taxpayers’ Rights in the Expanding Universe of Criminal and Administrative Sanctions: A Fundamental Rights Approach to Punitive Tax Law Following the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 12 Feb, 20 | Articles

Bulletin for International Taxation Vol. 74, No. 2 | IBFD, 2020

The article discusses the current trend towards the expansion of states’ punitive powers, identifies and traces the phenomenon in tax law, and discusses the effect that this particular approach to criminal and administrative sanctions has in the definition and the scope of taxpayers’ rights regarding punitive matters. read more…

2015-2017 General Report on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 5 Feb, 20 | Articles

Observatory on the Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights | IBFD, 2018

This report summarizes the monitored developments concerning the effective protection of taxpayers’ fundamental rights in 25 countries as of 31 December 2017, compared to the status of compliance of a set of minimum standards and best practices recorded for those countries on 12 fundamental taxpayer rights identified by Prof. Dr Pasquale Pistone and Prof. Dr Philip Baker at the 2015 IFA Congress on The Practical Protection of Taxpayers’ Rights in the following situations: read more…

The Right to Be Informed: The Parallel between Criminal Law and Tax Law, with Special Emphasis on Cross-Border Situations

by Carlos E. Weffe H. | 4 Feb, 20 | Articles

World Tax Journal, Vol. 9 No. 3 | IBFD, 2017

This article defines the right to be informed of any investigations in tax matters as a human right, part of the bundle of the citizen’s “constitutional rights positions” (R. Alexy) for their defense against any attempt of limitation of their rights by the State, and thus determines the ways through which the State exercises its powers. In this regard, this article approaches the right to be informed in tax assessment procedures on the basis of the study of the configuration parameters of said right in Criminal Law, and applies the resulting common standards in the context of the exchange of information between tax administrations in cross-border situations.

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