UN selects members of influential international tax committee

by Julie Martin

The United Nations has announced the appointment of 25 individuals to serve four year terms on a key committee responsible for UN international tax and transfer pricing work.

The new membership of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, a subsidiary body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), includes individuals from India, Japan, China, Brazil, Singapore, and Russia. Six individuals from African nations have been selected and three from EU countries. No one from the US will serve.

All but two members work currently for their government in tax positions; however, the members will act in their personal capacity when engaging in UN tax committee work.

The appointees were were selected from a pool of 60 nominees to reflect an equitable geographical distribution and represent different tax systems, the ECOSOC said.

The entire 25-person membership of the UN Committee of Experts is replaced with new members once every four years. The term of this new group will end June 30, 2021.

The UN Committee of Experts is responsible for updating important UN international tax documents which form the basis of many countries’ tax laws and tax treaty negotiations.

These documents include the United Nations Model Double Taxation Convention between Developed and Developing Countries, the Practical Manual on Transfer Pricing for Developing Countries, and the Manual for the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and Developing Countries.

The following committee members were appointed: Natalia Aristazabal Mora (Colombia); Abdoulfatah Moussa Arreh (Djibouti); Rajat Bansal (India); Margaret Moonga Chikuba (Zambia); William Babatunde Fowler (Nigeria); Mitsuhiro Honda (Japan); Cezary Krysiak (Poland); Eric Nil Yarboi Mensah (Ghana); Dang Ngoc Minh (Vietnam). Patricia Mongkhonvanit (Thailand); Marlene Patricia Nembhard Parker (Jamaica); George Omondi Obell (Kenya); Carmel Peters (New Zealand); Carlos E. Protto (Argentina); Jorge Antonio Deher Rachid (Brazil); Aart Roelofsen (Netherlands); Christoph Schelling (Switzerland); Aleksandr Anatolyevich Smirnov (Russian Federation); Stephanie Smith (Canada); Elfrieda Stewart Tamba (Liberia); Titia Stolte Detring (Germany); José Troya (Ecuador); Ingela Willfors (Sweden); Yan Xiong (China); Sing Yuan Yong (Singapore).

Julie Martin

Julie Martin

Founder & Editor at MNE Tax

Julie Martin is the founder of MNE Tax. She edits the publication and regularly contributes articles on new developments in cross-border business taxation.

Julie has worked as a tax journalist and editor for more than 13 years. Prior to that, she worked as an in-house tax attorney in New York. She also holds an LLM in taxation from New York University School of Law.

Julie can be reached at [email protected].

Julie Martin
Julie can be reached at [email protected].

2 Comments

  1. No one from the UK either. The membership is not entirely new – Carmel Peters from New Zealand was there in the last round.

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