Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations

After a tour made in 1965 to the United States of America by authorities of tax administrations of American countries, called to know and discuss in the field the fundamental problems of tax administration, Sheldon Cohen and Harold Moss, then respectively Commissioner and Director of the Office of International Assistance of the Internal Revenue Service of the United States, had the vision of creating an organization to serve as a permanent forum for the consideration of the problems of tax administrations.

For this purpose, a Steering Committee was appointed to structure the foundations of a multilateral agency of tax administrators. The Committee was composed of: Sheldon Cohen and Harold Moss (USA), Roberto Hoyo and Alfredo Gutiérrez (Mexico), Jaime Ross and Tomás Aguayo (Chile), Menalco Solís and Targidio Bernal (Panama) and Edison Gnazzo and Emilio Vidal (Uruguay). At meetings held in 1965 and 1966, said Committee drafted the Statutes of the organization.

In May 1967, during the first General Assembly held in Panama, the Statutes of the Inter - American Center of Tax Administrators-CIAT were approved. In 1997, a change in the name of the Center was approved, becoming the Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations, to emphasize the institutional nature of the organization.[2]

Until 1977, CIAT's activities were mainly directed to the organization of international meetings (annual assembly, conferences and technical seminars), the publication of a newsletter and the creation and maintenance of a library specialized in tax issues. In that year, a Technical Cooperation Agreement was signed with the Federal Republic of Germany, which established a permanent mission to CIAT with significant benefits for the organization and its member countries. The Agreement was maintained until 1997 and facilitated CIAT's action in the field of technical assistance.3

Technical cooperation agreements were concluded in 1982 and 1983 with France and Spain respectively. As a result, the permanent missions of these countries were established at CIAT headquarters in Panama. These agreements enabled CIAT to enhance activities for the benefit of its member countries.

In 1983, the Regional Technical Cooperation Project on the Single Register of Taxpayers and Current Account, TIN/CA, for Central America and the Caribbean, financed by IDB and executed by CIAT, was also launched. From there, our Center would act as a specialized agency providing technical assistance services for the tax administrations of Latin America and the Caribbean.

In 1987, during the General Assembly of Uruguay, the reform of the Statutes was approved. creating the category of Associate Members, to which Spain and Portugal joined in 1990, France in 1991, Italy in 1995 and the Netherlands in 1996.

The process of institutional evolution continued in the 90's: on the one hand, with the increasing use of information technology and management tools such as strategic planning, and, on the other hand, the approach and a greater commitment of european member countries, culminating in the year 2001 with the acquisition of the status of full members of five of them. Another notable event in the development of CIAT was the incorporation of South Africa in the Assembly of Bolivia in 2004, Kenya in the General Assembly of Brazil in 2006, and India in the General Assembly of Guatemala in 2009, as associate member countries.

The participation of all these countries has made it possible to increase and substantially improve the possibilities of CIAT to meet its objective of supporting the improvement and modernization of the administrations of its member countries.

The volume and scope of CIAT's activities, as well as the number of member countries and associate members from different continents, has expanded significantly since its creation, making CIAT the largest organization worldwide that brings together tax administrations and has signed cooperation agreements with the most important international public and private entities specialized in tax matters, such as the nine organizations that make up the NTO, or the GIZ of Germany.[3]