Finance Monthly January 2020 Edition

Much has been written about the impact the transformation of Latin America’s tax regimes has had on tax authorities across the world. In light of the region’s success, waves of digitisation and real-time controls have been adopted throughout the European Union, for example, with countries including Spain, Hungary, and - most recently - Italy digitally transforming their taxation systems. Even more recently, there have been signs that major Asian economies, inspired by this activity, are taking these initial ideas andapplying their own interpretations.Wemay, however, be witnessing the advent of a new tax model that’s potentially more interventionist and stated-driven than anything else we’ve seen to date. It’s understandable that governments will do what they can to increase revenue and close gaps in their country’s tax system. But a balance must be struck between the need to tighten regulations and ensuring the system doesn’t render that country’s businesses less competitive than companies in other countries. WHAT DOES ASIA’S TAX TRANSFORMATION MEAN FOR GLOBAL AUTHORITIES? Christiaan Van der Valk, VP of Strategy at Sovos www.sovos.com 20 www.finance-monthly.com FINANCE & BUSINESS - ASIA’S TAX TRANSFORMATION