The Public Revenue Office (PRO) is part of the Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative, a project that is implemented in cooperation with the OECD - the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the UNDP - the United Nations Development Program. Тhe Director of the Public Revenue Office, Sanja Lukarevska, on this occasion thanked the Secretariat of Tax Inspectors Without Borders for approving the cooperation application, and the expert Mr. Sanjev Sharma, who will work with the inspectors in the area of international taxation and transfer pricing. She expressed special gratitude to the OECD and UNDP for providing support in the implementation of this project.
Lukarevska emphasized that at a time when countries have an increasing need to open their borders for international trade and investment, it is essential that countries can collect tax on the profits that companies make in the country, without disincentivizing or disrupting international trade or the investments.
		“With the help of this initiative, we are strengthening the capacities of the PRO to determine fair taxation, based on the "arm's length" principle, a standard that has proven to be practical and balanced for both tax administrations and taxpayers, and with which it is possible to estimate transfer prices between related and unrelated enterprises, under similar conditions and economic circumstances, thus preventing double taxation and tax evasion. In the long term, it will also contribute to a more favorable investment climate, it will allow to build a culture of taxpayer compliance through more effective execution and collection of revenues in the Budget.” - said Lukarevska.

The Resident Representative of the UNDP in North Macedonia said that this initiative is a continuation of the successful cooperation between UNDP and the PRO in the field of public finance management. “UNDP's comprehensive support in international taxation and transfer pricing has laid a strong foundation for improved tax administration in North Macedonia, ensuring compliance with international standards and encouraging sustainable economic growth while at the same time strengthening our efforts to implement the Sustainable Development Goals, especially Goals 16: Peace, justice and strong institutions and 17: Partnerships for the Goals. We are glad that through such initiatives we contribute to the strengthening of institutional capacities and the formation of partnerships to strengthen tax systems, improve the mobilization of domestic resources and promote sustainable development” - said Armen Grigoryan – Resident Representative of UNDP in our country.

The Head of the department for global relations and development at the OECD, Mr. Ben Dickinson, emphasized that with the help of the Project, the Public Revenue Office, in the coming period, has the opportunity to improve the capacities of tax inspectors for the implementation of control of transfer prices, with direct support and help from the expert Sanjeev Sharma.

At the event, the results so far were presented, and it was clarified that with this program in Republic of North Macedonia, within the framework of Tax Inspectors Without Borders, the tax inspectors in the coming period will acquire skills for conducting consistent tax controls of multinational enterprises through expert support, and thus contribute to successfully dealing with tax evasion and avoidance of paying tax by of multinational enterprises.

The expert of the program, Sanjev Sharma, also had his address, and clarified that through this collaboration, as an expert, he will transfer the knowledge and skills to the Macedonian inspectors, which have been established in accordance with the Tax Inspectors Without Borders program and the technical assistance for international tax controls.

The event was also attended by the donors of the Public Revenue Office, representatives from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, and the US Treasury.

The Tax Inspectors Without Borders program is an initiative launched by the OECD and UNDP in 2015, and is intended to support developing countries in dealing with widespread tax evasion and tax avoidance by multinational enterprises. To date, the initiative counts 59 ongoing and 73 completed programs.