Governance and accountability
Our President and CEO, along with over 30 senior executives from all operations discuss the Group’s tax matters in each country of operation on a weekly basis to ensure we can respond quickly to any situation in real time.
The daily management of the Group’s tax matters rests with local tax directors and in-country tax teams and are supervised by the Senior Vice President, Tax and Treasury and the Senior Executive Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer who then communicate with the President and Chief Executive Officer. Furthermore, our President and CEO has overall responsibility for the relationships with our host governments. Our executive team reports all significant tax matters to the Audit & Risk Committee and to the Board. Our Board members have vast experience in finance, investment and law, and they provide oversight of all tax affairs and tax policy for the Group. As one of the largest gold and copper mining companies in the world, careful tax and fiscal management is critical to our business.
Policies and procedures
The financial contributions we make to our host governments are important building blocks for national prosperity.
We have a clear and detailed Tax Policy and our strategy is simple: we aim to pay the right amount of tax at the right time in the right place, and to transparently disclose the payments we make.
The Policy sets out our commitment to comply with the laws and practices of all the countries in which we operate, engage with the authorities openly and with integrity, and ensure our tax positions are based on reasonable interpretations of the law and aligned with the intentions of the legislators. Where a matter is not clear, we seek the advice of qualified tax professionals and, where appropriate, seek guidance from the tax authorities. We seek open and transparent relationships with the tax authorities in our host countries. Where disputes arise in interpretation of tax law, we approach the matter in a professional and transparent manner.
Other elements of our tax policy include:
- Tax planning - Our tax planning is based on reasonable interpretations of the law. We interpret the law, giving effect to the spirit and intention of the legislators. This means we consider social and moral obligations that the legislators intend to apply. Accordingly, our tax planning is based on reasonable interpretations of the law and is aligned with the substance of our economic and business activity.
- Managing tax risks - Tax rules change regularly and disputes can arise from their interpretation. We monitor and manage tax risks by employing appropriately qualified professionals in all our key jurisdictions who report to local financial leaders in the operations as well as to the corporate tax group. Through this mechanism, we ensure risks are understood and managed locally and are also monitored and reported to the executive team.
- Tax transparency and disclosure - In addition to complying with mandatory disclosure regimes such as the Canadian Extractive Sector Transparency Measures Act (ESTMA) and the OECD BEPS Action 13 Country-by-Country Reporting, we also seek to comply with voluntary transparency regimes where appropriate. We were the first Canadian mining company to be a signatory to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) and we annually publish our payments to our host governments as required by ESTMA. Starting with our 2021 financial year, we also publish an annual tax transparency report