Latin American Countries Focus on Tax Evaders to Raise Revenue

Some of Latin America’s biggest economies are stepping up efforts to go after tax cheats—instead of raising rates—to boost revenue for social spending and debt payments.

Chile, Argentina, and Mexico are unwilling or unable to raise tax rates amid continued economic uncertainty and are targeting audits of multinationals and wealthy individuals who have traditionally paid relatively low tax rates. Some are bringing criminal charges against alleged offenders.

In Mexico, authorities are focusing much of their compliance efforts on transfer pricing—transactions between related companies that are part of multinational groups—in a pattern that practitioners say is set to increase in coming ...