With the recent promotion by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the Philippines to its list of countries that have substantially implemented internationally agreed tax standards — more commonly known as the “white list” — tax evaders now face greater scrutiny from revenue authorities.

It may be recalled that our country has been on the gray list — consisting of those countries that have committed but have not yet fully complied with internationally agreed tax standards — since April 2009, following its removal from the black list of uncooperative havens for suspected tax cheats.

Although the Philippines is not a member of the OECD, it is a signatory to the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific as well as the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption which set the international benchmark for anti-bribery legislation.

Another anti-corruption mechanism in the international arena is the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which also finds substantial application in the Philippines due to the presence of a number of American multinational companies. The FCPA empowers the US authorities to prosecute US companies for paying bribes to foreign officials.

In US alone, as many as 120 companies have been investigated on suspicion of FCPA violations. In February 2009, an oil services company and its subsidiary were fined a penalty of $579 million — the largest fine ever paid in an FCPA case.

via BusinessWorld Online Edition: Coming clean and the economics of bribery.

With the recent promotion by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) of the Philippines to its list of countries that have substantially implemented internationally agreed tax standards — more commonly known as the “white list” — tax evaders now face greater scrutiny from revenue authorities.

It may be recalled that our country has been on the gray list — consisting of those countries that have committed but have not yet fully complied with internationally agreed tax standards — since April 2009, following its removal from the black list of uncooperative havens for suspected tax cheats.

Although the Philippines is not a member of the OECD, it is a signatory to the Anti-Corruption Action Plan for Asia and the Pacific as well as the 2003 UN Convention Against Corruption which set the international benchmark for anti-bribery legislation.

Another anti-corruption mechanism in the international arena is the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which also finds substantial application in the Philippines due to the presence of a number of American multinational companies. The FCPA empowers the US authorities to prosecute US companies for paying bribes to foreign officials.

In US alone, as many as 120 companies have been investigated on suspicion of FCPA violations. In February 2009, an oil services company and its subsidiary were fined a penalty of $579 million — the largest fine ever paid in an FCPA case.

via BusinessWorld Online Edition: Coming clean and the economics of bribery.