Countries Can Better Tax Gains from Offshore Sales: Economists

Developing countries often lose revenue when they can’t tax capital gains from sales of assets in their country made offshore—but they could close those gaps, two IMF economists said.

Problems arise when assets in one country are transferred as part of the foreign sale of the entity that owns them—an offshore indirect transfer. In these situations, tax authorities in the “location” country often lose out on taxing the gains from the sale of the asset located in their country.

• The IMF, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the United Nations, and the World Bank Group plans to finalize a guide ...