Malaysia: Workshop on Taxation of International Transactions (TOIT) Programme 2022

Malaysia Country Correspondent: Dr Esther A.P. Koisin

Article by: Ms Zinatul Ashiqin Bachek, Malaysian Tax Academy, IRBM

The 26th Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators (CATA) Taxations of International Transactions (TOIT) workshop in CATA's history took place in 2022. After two (2) years of conducting the workshop online, it was successfully held in person this year at Malaysian Tax Academy (MTA) during the weeks of 31 October and 7 November 2022.

The program which consists of two workshops following a restructure of TOIT in 2018, began with the TOIT-Treaty Workshop, which was held at the Malaysian Tax Academy in Bandar Baru Bangi, Selangor Malaysia from 31 October to 4 November 2022.

The purpose of the Treaty Workshop is to broaden and deepen participants understanding of the rules of international taxation, especially tax treaties, by considering their application in interaction with domestic tax law and to commercial transactions which involve flows of funds across international frontiers.

Senior and middle-level officials from nine member countries are among the 23 participants at the workshop: Brunei, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Maldives, Seychelles, and Zambia. Mr Edward Barret and Mr Daniel Berry from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) of the United Kingdom, respectively, served as resource persons for this workshop.

The second TOIT programme, Transfer Pricing Workshop, was also held at Malaysian Tax Academy from 7 November to 11 November 2022. This one-week workshop is attended by 23 tax officials from ten countries, including Brunei, Botswana, Cameroon, Kenya, Malawi, Maldives, India, Seychelles, and Zambia. The experts for this workshop were Mr Anthony Clark and Mr Mike Hogan from Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC) in the United Kingdom.

All of the input and guidance provided throughout the week undoubtedly improved the participants' knowledge and understanding of transfer pricing issues in multinational corporations and international transactions.

Aside from the knowledge gained, the two-week workshop gave participants the invaluable opportunity to network with their counterparts from various authorities. This is the essence of our activities within the CATA fraternity, where we strive to build relationships that benefit all parties.