Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Peer Reviews: Burkina Faso 2016: Phase 2: Implementation of the Standard in Practice

130 Pages·2016·1.595 MB·English

by  Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development

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 2: BURKINA FASO
This report contains a “Phase 2: Implementation of the Standards in Practice” review,
as well as revised version of the “Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework review”
already released for this country. Peer Review Report
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 Phase 2
of information is carried out by over 130 jurisdictions which participate in the work
of the Global Forum on an equal footing.
Implementation of the Standard
The Global Forum is charged with in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation
of the standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. in Practice
These standards are primarily refl ected 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
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The standards provide for international exchange on request of foreseeably relevant ie
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information for the administration or enforcement of the domestic tax laws of a requesting R
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party. “Fishing expeditions” are not authorised, but all foreseeably relevant information p
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must be provided, including bank information and information held by fi duciaries, regardless rt P
of the existence of a domestic tax interest or the application of a dual criminality standard. ha
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All members of the Global Forum, as well as jurisdictions identifi ed by the Global Forum 2
as relevant to its work, are being reviewed. This process is undertaken in two phases. Im
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Phase 1 reviews assess the quality of a jurisdiction’s legal and regulatory framework le
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for the exchange of information, while Phase 2 reviews look at the practical implementation e
n
of that framework. Some Global Forum members are undergoing combined – Phase 1 ta
plus Phase 2 – reviews. The ultimate goal is to help jurisdictions to effectively implement tio
n
the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes. o
All review reports are published once approved by the Global Forum and they thus represent f the
agreed Global Forum reports. Sta
n
For more information on the work of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange da
of Information for Tax Purposes, and for copies of the published review reports, please visit rd
www.oecd.org/tax/transparency and www.eoi-tax.org. in P
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Consult this publication on line at http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264266070-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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Visit www.oecd-ilibrary.org for more information.
ISBN 978-92-64-26608-7
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23 2016 41 1 P

Global Forum
on Transparency
and Exchange
of Information for Tax
Purposes Peer Reviews:
Burkina Faso 2016
PHASE 2:
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE STANDARD IN PRACTICE
November 2016
(reflecting the legal and regulatory framework
as at June 2016)
ThisworkispublishedontheresponsibilityoftheSecretary-GeneraloftheOECD.
Theopinionsexpressedandargumentsemployedhereindonotnecessarilyreflect
theofficialviewsoftheOECDorofthegovernmentsofitsmembercountriesor
thoseoftheGlobalForumonTransparencyandExchangeofInformationforTax
Purposes.
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orsovereigntyoveranyterritory,tothedelimitationofinternationalfrontiersand
boundariesandtothenameofanyterritory,cityorarea.
Pleasecitethispublicationas:
OECD(2016),GlobalForumonTransparencyandExchangeofInformationforTaxPurposesPeer
Reviews:BurkinaFaso2016:Phase2:ImplementationoftheStandardinPractice,OECDPublishing.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264266070-en
ISBN978-92-64-26608-7(print)
ISBN978-92-64-26607-0(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                                                       11
Information and methodology used for the Peer Review of Burkina Faso      11
Overview of Burkina Faso                                          12
General information on the legal and tax system                         13
Overview of the financial sector and the relevant professions               17
Recent developments                                               19
Compliance with the Standards                                       21
A. Availability of information                                        21
Overview                                                        21
A1 Ownership and identity information                               23
A2 Accounting records                                            62
A3 Banking information                                           69
B. Access to information                                             77
Overview                                                        77
B1 Competent authority’s ability to obtain and provide information         78
B2 Notification requirements and rights and safeguards                  93
C. Exchanging information                                          95
Overview                                                        95
C1 Information exchange mechanisms                                96
C2 Exchange of information mechanisms with all relevant partners        103
C3 Confidentiality                                               105
C4 Rights and safeguards of taxpayers and third parties                 109
C5 Timeliness of response to requests for information                   110
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 2 – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2016
4 – TABLE OF CONTENTS
Summary of determinations and factors underlying recommendations     115
Annex 1: The jurisdiction’s response to the peer review                  119
Annex 2: List of Burkina Faso’s information exchange mechanisms       120
Annex 3: List of all laws, regulations and other relevant material         121
Annex 4: List of persons interviewed during the on‑site visit             124
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 2 – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2016
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
130 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 2 – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2016

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,
as well as its implementation and effectiveness in practice The interna-
tional standard, which is set out in the Global Forum’s Terms of Reference
to Monitor and Review Progress Towards Transparency and Exchange of
Information on Request, 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 The Company law allows for the creation of bearer
shares in public limited companies and simplified 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 In practice, when the two year period allowed
for companies to comply with the obligation to dematerialise shares expired
(on 5 May 2016), no monitoring measures were taken to find out whether all
the relevant entities in Burkina Faso had dematerialised all of their shares
The Burkina Faso authorities are recommended to take practical measures to
ensure the effective dematerialisation of all shares issued by public limited
companies and simplified joint-stock companies
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 2 – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2016
8 – ExECUTIVE SUMMARy
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 regula-
tions in Burkina Faso guarantee the availability of banking information In
practice, the Burkina Faso authorities carry out regular monitoring to ensure
that these obligations are respected by all the relevant persons and entities
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 In practice, the Burkina Faso competent authority exercised its infor-
mation-gathering powers a number of times during the review period without
any difficulty, in order to respond to the three EOI requests received from a
partner
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 During the review period, Burkina Faso did not have a department
specifically dedicated to exchange of information EOI requests were dealt
with by the tax investigation department (service des enquêtes fiscales)
within the tax audit directorate (Direction du contrôle fiscal) Burkina Faso’s
responses to the three EOI requests received during the review period were
considered satisfactory by its EOI partner In addition, as a result of the
adoption of a new organisation chart for the Directorate General of Taxes
(Direction Générale des Impôts) in 2015, a unit entirely dedicated to the
exchange of information was created within the new tax investigations
and research directorate (Direction des Enquêtes et Recherches Fiscales)
This unit is already operational and has adequate resources to process EOI
requests effectively, thought this new organisation has not been tested in
practice
8 Burkina Faso has been rated on each of the 10 essential elements, and
has also been given an overall rating The rating for the essential elements are
based on the analysis contained in this report, taking into account the deter-
minations of Phase 1 and the recommendations formulated with regards to
the legal framework in Burkina Faso and the effectiveness of the information
exchange in practice On this basis, Burkina Faso has been rated as follows:
PEER REVIEW REPORT – PHASE 2 – BURKINA FASO © OECD 2016