ITR Global Tax 50 2022: Edward Kieswetter

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ITR Global Tax 50 2022: Edward Kieswetter

Commissioner of SARS

Edward Kieswetter.jpg

Commissioner Edward Kieswetter has been working hard to rebuild the reputation of the South African Revenue Service after the tax authority was rocked by a series of scandals before he took over.

Kieswetter has cracked down hard on sleaze in SARS and welcomed lengthy prison sentences for officers convicted of corruption. He has also set out to reorganise the service and established a tax unit focused on high-net-worth individuals.

Kieswetter has relaunched the Large Business Centre (LBC), stabilised the IT division and re-established the High Court Litigation Unit. He also opened a review of all disciplinary cases since 2014 and, in some cases, reinstated officers absolved of old allegations.

South African businesses have been impressed with Kieswetter. He made a point of inviting CEOs to the relaunch of the LBC and making it clear that taxpayers have a seat at the table when it comes to government discussions.

When Kieswetter took over at SARS in May 2019, the South African tax authority was mired in allegations of state capture and the corruption scandals around former President Jacob Zuma. He was tasked with cleaning up the service’s reputation.

Three years after Kieswetter took on the job of commissioner, SARS is in a much better position than it was in 2019. However, Kieswetter has said his work will still be incomplete when he plans to retire in two years.

Global Tax 50 2022

Breaking down the entire 50 individually according to the impact they made would require too granular an approach. Each entry is in alphabetical order as part of categories, i.e. individuals, to make it simpler to navigate.

Industry figures
Tax authorities
Public officials
Noteworthy individuals
NGOs
 
Vice president of global transfer pricing and tax disputes, Johnson & Johnson
Chair of tax policy group, BusinessEurope
Director and head of international tax for Meta Latin America
Head of transfer pricing, AstraZeneca
Executive vice president of global tax and treasury, Unilever
Global head of tax, Siemens
Chair of the taxation committee, USCIB
Chair of the tax committee at BIAC
Commissioner of the Canada Revenue Agency
Commissioner of SARS
Minister of Revenue, New Zealand
Former IRS commissioner
Commissioner of the State Tax Administration
Executive secretary of ATAF
 
Director of direct taxation, coordination, economic analysis and evaluation, European Commission
Minister of finance, budget and national planning, Nigeria
US president
Departing president of Brazil
Secretariat of the economy, Mexico
Acting Head of the Tax Policy and Statistics Division, OECD
Co-chairs of the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters (UN Tax Committee)
Commissioner for the economy, European Commission
Minister of finance, Indonesia
Head of TIWB secretariat
Prime minister of Japan
US senators
Director-general of the Public Debt Management Office, Thai Ministry of Finance
Chair of the House Ways & Means Committee
Director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration
Head of the GloBE unit, OECD
President of Colombia
Acting deputy director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
Former director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD
Lord of Kingswood, UK
Minister of finance and corporate affairs, India
UK prime minister and chancellor of the exchequer
Chair of the Senate Finance Committee
Secretary of the US Treasury
 
CEO and global chairman, EY
Tax attorney, blogger and podcaster, Taxgirl
Former Uber lobbyist
Director of Tax Research UK
Director of Tax Policy Associates
CEO of Opportunity Green
 
Chief executive of Tax Justice Network
Acting director of TaxWatch
Former responsible tax lead at PIRC
Chief executive of Fair Tax Foundation
Director of the ICIJ
Principal analyst for CICTAR
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