Re: [tax] CCRA Position on the Standard Audit File (SAF)

[Andy Greener <andy@gid.co.uk>]

At 1:13 am +0000 23/7/03, sandyfoote@footeworks.ca wrote:
>Standard Audit File (SAF) Applicability to CCRA
>
>The CCRA is very interested in the adoption of the OECD SAF in Canada.  The SAF makes it easier for businesses to meet their record keeping obligations and also make it easier for tax authorities to verify electronic transactions, especially with small and medium enterprises. While the SAF could be produced in one of the common, non-proprietary or “open” data interchange format, it is expected that the XML would become one of the more popular, frequently used format.

<snip>

>The work underway at the OECD level will ensure accounting software is able to create, upon request, a file of ALL transactions in a common data interchange format – XML, CSV, etc.

My (admittedly imperfect) understanding of the relationship between the
OECD and this TC is that OECD members felt that a separate and
internationally recognised standards body was the right vehicle for
taking forward the business of setting standards in the tax domain. For
this reason OECD was heavily involved in the formation of the Tax XML TC
and as a consequence both groups have many members in common. Logically,
therefore, it would seem that the SAF's natural home is within this TC.

I'm not aware of the outcome of the recent OECD SAF meeting Brussels, but I
would hope that we don't get into a situation where effort is duplicated
between two closely allied groups, or that tax domain standards become
fragmented between OECD and OASIS.

Can someone provide an update on the current status of the SAF within
OECD and the impact this may have on our own deliberations about bringing
SAF into scope, which were held over from the last conf call to the next?
--

Andy Greener                         Mob: +44 7836 331933
GID Ltd, Reading, UK                 Tel: +44 118 956 1248
andy@gid.co.uk                       Fax: +44 118 958 9005