Global Tax 50 2015: Kim Jacinto-Henares

International Tax Review is part of Legal Benchmarking Limited, 1-2 Paris Garden, London, SE1 8ND

Copyright © Legal Benchmarking Limited and its affiliated companies 2025

Accessibility | Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Modern Slavery Statement

Global Tax 50 2015: Kim Jacinto-Henares

Commissioner, Philippines Bureau of Internal Revenue; vice-chairwoman, ad hoc group on BEPS Action 15

Kim Jacinto-Henares

Kim Jacinto-Henares is a new entry this year

2015 was a busy year for Kim Jacinto-Henares, commissioner of the Bureau of Internal Revenue in the Philippines. Her country became a member of the global forum on BEPS, it was invited to participate in the work of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs, the OECD group that sets the organisation's tax agenda, and the commissioner became a member of the UN Committee of Tax Experts.

On top of that, she was nominated by her government to be one of the vice-chairpersons of OECD Working Party 15, the group set up to negotiate the multilateral instrument to incorporate the BEPS recommendations into existing bilateral tax treaties.

"Not only were we busy here with domestic revenue mobilisation, but I found myself out of the country a lot," she says.

The commissioner believes agreement on the multilateral instrument will be possible for the 44 countries that participated in the BEPS negotiations, but is not sure about any other jurisdiction.

"All the other countries are not bound by the instrument," she says. "Will other countries agree to it? It won't be a problem for the 44, but there is a lot to be discussed."

She adds that the talks on the multilateral instrument cannot be used to go back over what was agreed by the BEPS working parties: "We fought over every comma, every period. You cannot go back."

The Philippines did not commit to implement anything that emerged from the BEPS process. "We participated on the very clear understanding that we would not be bound by it," says Jacinto-Henares. "We would not have agreed to participate if we were bound. We didn't want to be in the same situation with exchange of information, where an agreement was made and we were bound by it, finding ourselves on blacklists and the like. We don't want to be surprised in the future. This was made very clear to everyone: you made the agreement not us."

The Global Tax 50 2015

View the full list and introduction

The top 10 • Ranked in order of influence

1. Margrethe Vestager

2. Pascal Saint-Amans

3. Wang Jun

4. Arun Jaitley

5. Marissa Mayer

6. Will Morris

7. Ian Read

8. Pierre Moscovici

9. Donato Raponi

10. Global Alliance for Tax Justice

The remaining 40 • In alphabetic order

Brigitte Alepin

Andrus Ansip

Tamara Ashford

Mohammed Amine Baina

Piet Battiau

Elise Bean

Monica Bhatia

David Bradbury

Winnie Byanyima

Mauricio Cardenas

Allison Christians

Rita de la Feria

Marlies de Ruiter

Judith Freedman

Meg Hillier

Vanessa Houlder

Kim Jacinto-Henares

Eva Joly

Chris Jordan

Jean-Claude Juncker

Alain Lamassoure

Juliane Kokott

Armando Lara Yaffar

Liao Tizhong

Paige Marvel

Angela Merkel

Zach Mider

Richard Murphy

George Osborne

Achim Pross

Akhilesh Ranjan

Alan Robertson

Paul Ryan

Tove Maria Ryding

Magdalena Sepulveda Carmona

Lee Sheppard

Parthasarathi Shome

Robert Stack

Mike Williams

Ya-wen Yang

more across site & shared bottom lb ros

More from across our site

It should be easy for advisers to be transparent about costs, Brown Rudnick partner Matthew Sharp said in response to exclusive ITR in-house data
The sprawling legislation phases out Joe Biden-era green tax incentives for businesses; in other news, the UK will reportedly maintain its DST despite US pressure
New French legislation should create a more consistent legal environment for taxing gains from management packages, say Bruno Knadjian and Sylvain Piémont of Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer
The South Africa vs SC ruling may embolden the tax authority to take a more aggressive approach to TP assessments, an adviser tells ITR
Indirect tax professionals now rate compliance as a bigger obstacle than technology and automation; in other news, Italy approved a VAT cut on art sales
AI-powered tax agents are likely to be the next big development in tax technology, says Russell Gammon of Tax Systems
FTI Consulting’s EMEA head of employment tax and reward tells ITR about celebrating diversity in the profession, his love of musicals, and what makes tax cool
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and US President Donald Trump have agreed that the countries will look to conclude a deal by July 21, 2025
The firm’s lack of transparency regarding its tax leaks scandal should see the ban extended beyond June 30, senators Deborah O’Neill and Barbara Pocock tell ITR
Despite posing significant administrative hurdles, digital services taxes remain ‘the best way forward’ for emerging economies, says Neil Kelley, COO of Ascoria
Gift this article