Tax authorities must avoid intimidating taxpayers away from using mutual agreement procedures for resolving disputes arising from audits, a top OECD official said Tuesday.
The threat of criminal proceedings or penalties shouldn’t be used as “a leverage mechanism” against taxpayers seeking access to MAPs, said Sriram Govind, acting co-head, tax certainty unit at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Center for Tax Policy and Administration.
MAPs are an out-of-court dispute resolution process that allows taxpayers and tax authorities to negotiate resolutions to double taxation issues. The OECD updated its manual on MAP earlier this month to guide taxpayers ...