Burkina Faso 2015. Phase 1, Legal and regulatory framework.

96 Pages·2015·1.288 MB·English

by  OECD

Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information GLOBAL FORUM ON TRANSPARENCY AND EXCHANGE
for Tax Purposes
OF INFORMATION FOR TAX PURPOSES
PEER REVIEWS, PHASE 1: BURKINA FASO
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the
multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of
information is carried out by over 120 jurisdictions which participate in the work of the Global Peer Review Report
Forum on an equal footing.
The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation Phase 1
of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. These
standards are primarily refl ected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Legal and Regulatory Framework
Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax
Convention on Income and on Capital and its commentary as updated in 2004, which has
been incorporated in the UN Model Tax Convention.
The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant BURKINA FASO
information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting
party. “Fishing expeditions” are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information must
be provided, including bank information and information held by fi duciaries, regardless of the Pe
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existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard. r R
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All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identifi ed by the Global Forum as vie
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relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Phase 1
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reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange ep
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of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework. r
Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 plus Phase 2 – reviews. t Ph
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The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards s
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of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. 1
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All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum and they thus represent ga
agreed Global Forum reports. l a
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For more information on the work of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of R
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Information for Tax Purposes, and for copies of the published review reports, please visit gu
www.oecd.org/tax/transparency and www.eoi-tax.org. lato
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Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264237438-en. IN
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This work is published on the OECD iLibrary, which gathers all OECD books, periodicals and F
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statistical databases. S
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Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org for more information.
ISBN 978-92-64-23742-1
23 2015 20 1 P

Global Forum
on Transparency
and Exchange
of Information for Tax
Purposes Peer Reviews:
Burkina Faso 2015
PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
August 2015
(reflecting the legal and regulatory framework
as atApril 2015)
ThisworkispublishedontheresponsibilityoftheSecretary-GeneraloftheOECD.
Theopinionsexpressedandargumentsemployedhereindonotnecessarilyreflect
theofficialviewsoftheOECDorofthegovernmentsofitsmembercountriesor
thoseoftheGlobalForumonTransparencyandExchangeofInformationforTax
Purposes.
Thisdocumentandanymapincludedhereinarewithoutprejudicetothestatusof
orsovereigntyoveranyterritory,tothedelimitationofinternationalfrontiersand
boundariesandtothenameofanyterritory,cityorarea.
Pleasecitethispublicationas:
OECD(2015),GlobalForumonTransparencyandExchangeofInformationforTaxPurposesPeer
Reviews:BurkinaFaso2015:Phase1:LegalandRegulatoryFramework,OECDPublishing,Paris.
DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264237438-en
ISBN978-92-64-23742-1(print)
ISBN978-92-64-23743-8(PDF)
Series:GlobalForumonTransparencyandExchangeofInformationforTaxPurposesPeerReviews
ISSN2219-4681(print)
ISSN2219-469X(online)
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TABLE OF CONTENTS – 3
Table of Contents
About the Global Forum                                             5
Executive summary                                                  7
Introduction                                                        9
Information and methodology used for the Peer Review of Burkina Faso       9
Overview of Burkina Faso                                          10
General information on the legal and tax system                         11
Overview of the financial sector and the relevant professions               15
Recent developments                                               16
Compliance with the Standards                                       17
A. Availability of information                                        17
Overview                                                        17
A1 Ownership and identity information                               19
A2 Accounting records                                            48
A3 Banking information                                           53
B. Access to information                                             57
Overview                                                        57
B1 Competent authority’s ability to obtain and provide information         58
B2 Notification requirements and rights and safeguards                  69
C. Exchange of information                                          71
Overview                                                        71
C1 Information exchange mechanisms                                72
C2 Exchange of information mechanisms with all relevant partners         78
C3 Confidentiality                                                79
C4 Rights and safeguards of taxpayers and third parties                  82
C5 Timeliness of response to requests for information                    83
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2015
4 – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary of determinations and factors underlying recommendations      85
Annex 1: Jurisdiction’s response to the review report                    87
Annex 2: List of Burkina Faso’s information exchange mechanisms        88
Annex 3: List of all laws, regulations and other relevant material          89
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2015
ABOUT THE GLOBAL FORUM – 5
About the Global Forum
The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for
Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area
of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over
120 jurisdictions, which participate in the Global Forum on an equal footing
The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer
review of the implementation of the international standards of transpar-
ency and exchange of information for tax purposes These standards are
primarily reflected in the 2002 OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of
Information on Tax Matters and its commentary, and in Article 26 of the
OECD Model Tax Convention on Income and on Capital and its commen-
tary as updated in 2004 The standards have also been incorporated into
the UN Model Tax Convention
The standards provide for international exchange on request of fore-
seeably relevant information for the administration or enforcement of the
domestic tax laws of a requesting party Fishing expeditions are not authorised
but all foreseeably relevant information must be provided, including bank
information and information held by fiduciaries, regardless of the existence
of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard
All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identified by
the Global Forum as relevant to its work, are being reviewed This process is
undertaken in two phases Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdic-
tion’s legal and regulatory framework for the exchange of information, while
Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation of that framework Some
Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 and Phase 2 –
reviews The Global Forum has also put in place a process for supplementary
reports to follow-up on recommendations, as well as for the ongoing monitor-
ing of jurisdictions following the conclusion of a review The ultimate goal is
to help jurisdictions to effectively implement the international standards of
transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes
All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum
and they thus represent agreed Global Forum reports
For more information on the work of the Global Forum on Transparency
and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, and for copies of the pub-
lished review reports, please refer to wwwoecdorg/tax/transparency and
wwweoi-taxorg
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2015

ExECUTIVE SUMMARY – 7
Executive summary
1 The present report summarises Burkina Faso’s legal and regulatory
framework for transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes
The international standard, which is set out in the Global Forum’s Terms
of Reference to Monitor and Review Progress Towards Transparency and
Exchange of Information, is concerned with the availability of relevant infor-
mation within a jurisdiction, the competent authority’s ability to gain access
to that information, and in turn, whether that information can be effectively
and timely exchanged with its exchange of information partners
2 Burkina Faso is a West African country with a surface area of
274 000 square kilometres and approximately 17 million inhabitants The
country’s economy is dominated by agriculture and mining Burkina Faso
has a tax system which taxes the income of individuals and enterprises
The country undertook to apply the international transparency standard by
becoming a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of
Information for Tax Purposes in 2012
3 Generally speaking, Burkina Faso’s legal and regulatory framework
ensures the availability of information about the ownership of companies
and other entities and the identity of shareholders Companies and other legal
persons are required to register with the public authorities, including the tax
authorities However, certain shortcomings were identified in the prevailing
legislation There is no penalty for failure to keep the share register even
though that is, until the dematerialisation of securities, the only means of
knowing the identity of all the owners of registered shares in public lim-
ited companies and simplified joint-stock companies Company law allows
for the creation of bearer shares in public limited companies and simpli-
fied joint-stock companies and now requires all corporate securities to be
dematerialised However, there is not sufficient information on the practical
arrangements to ensure the dematerialisation of all bearer shares, including
those created before the new legislation came into effect
4 There are provisions in accounting and tax law which require the
keeping and retention of accounting records and underlying documentation for
a minimum ten-year period Banking and anti-money laundering regulations
in Burkina Faso guarantee the availability of banking information
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2015
8 – ExECUTIVE SUMMARY
5 Under Burkina Faso tax law the tax authorities, which are the com-
petent authority, have extensive powers to gather information, including
banking information, which may be used for information exchange purposes
without any restriction related to domestic tax interest There is no right of
notification in Burkina Faso Tax disputes may neither prevent nor delay the
response to an information request made under a treaty signed by Burkina
Faso
6 Burkina Faso has an EOI network covering 10 jurisdictions through
double tax conventions (DTCs) All agreements except for one DTC are
in force All Burkina Faso’s EOI agreements are to the standard and have
confidentiality provisions to ensure that the information exchanged will
be disclosed only to persons authorised by the agreements Burkina Faso
has recently taken steps to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual
Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Multilateral Convention)
7 Burkina Faso’s response to the conclusions and recommendations of
this report and practical application of the legal framework will be assessed
in detail in Phase 2 of the review, scheduled for the second half of 2015 At
the same time, a follow-up report on the measures taken by Burkina Faso in
response to the recommendations made in this report must be submitted to
the Peer Review Group within six months following its adoption
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 1: LEGAL AND REGULATORY FRAMEWORK – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2015