Plan on addressing recommendations set

PAPUA New Guinea now has a plan to address the recommendations made by the Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes, an official says.
The plan is the exchange of information on request country action plan 2019-2024, according to a statement by Internal Revenue Commission (IRC), Investment Promotion Authority (IPA) and Financial Analysis and Supervision Unit (Fasu),
IRC commissioner-general Sam Koim said the commission operated within the evolving global taxation landscape.
“The traditional tax norms, enduring for centuries, are transforming due to rapid digital economic shifts,” he said.
Koim added that participation in international taxation involved sharing legal and beneficial ownership information with other jurisdictions, eradicating banking secrecy, thoroughly analysing financial data, and fairly distributing taxing rights among states.
“The IRC is taking significant strides to suppress illicit financial flows and eliminate tax evasion. Cross-border trade-based tax evasion is on the rise, and this is a significant step in curtailing that,” he said.
Fasu acting director Wilson Onea said the PNG money laundering and financing of terrorism national risk assessment identified taxation and revenue fraud as major areas of criminal activities posing significant threats to PNG.
IPA managing director Clarence Hoot said the authority undertook exercises to review the laws under its jurisdiction to address PNG’s international obligations on anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing reforms, and to keep up with new developments of technology in business registry systems.