Financial and Tax Measures of South Korea Tackling COVID-19

On 18 March 2020,President Moon Jae-in of South Korea said the COVID-19 outbreak is s imultaneously impacting supply and demand and causing a multi-crisis for the real economy and finance.In trying to overcome the downturn by utilizing both fiscal and monetary policies,the government of South Korea has so far introduced a total of KRW141 trillion(USD115 billion,7.4%of GDP)support measures to mitigate the impact of the COVID-19 including liquidity provisions and credit guarantees.

Tax Policies and Measures to Tackle the Impact of COVID-19 in BRI Jurisdictions and Related Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has presented significant challenges to businesses and households around the globe.In response to the outbreak of the pandemic,governments are using tax policies and tax administrative measures to alleviate corporates and individuals from cash flow pressures.This article summarizes the tax policy measures taken by a few BRI jurisdictions,provides an overview of the cross-border issues arising from exceptional and temporary work location changes due to the pandemic and briefly discusses the challenges faced by governments and corporates and how tax can play a role to deal with these challenges.

COVID-19: Tax Administrations at the Forefront

Since the outbreak of COVID-19,Tax Administrations(TAs)have been at the forefront of this battle,fighting to continue on business,trying to help the economy to keep on working and planning the recovery scenario.In this article we summarize some of the actions adopted by TAs in this three fields.During this period,Inter-American Center of Tax Administrations(CIAT)is trying to help tax administration community coordinating efforts with other international organizations,producing timely documents and promoting new and innovative working methodologies.

Dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic:Economic Recovery Through Taxation in Africa

COVID-19 negatively impacted the economies of many African countries that had previously been on a positive trajectory.Both economic growth and revenue collections were severely eroded,triggered by the lockdowns implemented,stimu-lus packages offered to small and medium enterprises,financial support to vulnera-ble households,and the tax relief measures to businesses.ATAF administered three surveys on its member tax administrations to gauge the tax administration and pol-icy responses to COVID-19,assess the customs revenue losses,and evaluate the tax administrations’preparedness on business continuity and risk management.Results showed that tax administrations implemented a variety of tax relief measures which included accelerated refunds,tax deferrals,suspension of audits,suspension of duties on health products imported for fighting COVID-19 and tax amnesty programs.Some of the non-tax measures included measures meant for enhancing business cash flow,enhancing business con-tinuity,enhancing household cash-flow and supporting the informal sector and small businesses.Customs revenue was negatively impacted on,with an estimated loss of USD400 million~USD500 million from February to April 2020,for the 18 countries whose data was available.Additionally,some African tax administrations either did not have,or were not implementing Business Conti-nuity Plans(BCPs)and enterprise risk management.Sectors that benefitted from the pandemic include the health,pharmaceuticals and medical supplies,and telecommunication and informa-tion technology.The hardest hit sectors were the tourism,education,accommodation and food services and mining.Some countries realised positive revenue growth,despite the pandemic,due to increased usage of automated tax systems.To recover from negative effects of COVID-19,tax administrations should embark on reforms geared towards implementation of the following measures:taxation of digital economies through digital services taxes and a comprehensive VAT strategy for e-commerce transactions;combating transfer pricing and other forms of illicit financial flows;reducing the informal sector;and streamlining tax incentives.Tax administrations could also embrace digitalisation and leverage on big data considering the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Stimulating the Economy Through Tax Initiatives:A Malaysian Perspective

Malaysia was not spared from the COVID-19 pandemic crisis.The Malay-sian government has been proactive in crisis handling and allocated various aid packag-es to individuals,businesses and sectors affected.As part of the expansionary fiscal pol-icy,the government has strengthened existing tax measures and introduced some new ones to maintain resilience of the economy,encourage domestic investment and attract foreign investments into the country.This paper highlights the key fiscal policies and tax measures deployed by the Malaysian government to drive the economic recovery.