THE new OECD/G20
standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today by all
OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating
in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of
Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. A status report on committed and
not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their
annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.
Fifty-one jurisdictions, many represented at Ministerial
level, translated their commitments into action during a massive signing
of a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement that will activate automatic
exchange of information, based on the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative
Assistance in Tax Matters. Early adopters who signed the agreement have pledged
to work towards launching their first information exchanges by September
2017. Others are expected to follow in 2018.
The new Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information
in Tax Matters was recently presented by the OECD to the G20 Finance Ministers
during a meeting in Cairns last September. It provides for exchange of all
financial information on an annual basis, automatically. Most jurisdictions
have committed to implementing this Standard on a reciprocal basis with all
interested jurisdictions.
The Global Forum will establish a peer review process to ensure effective
implementation of automatic exchange. Governments also agreed to raise the
bar on the standard of exchange of information upon request, by including
a requirement that beneficial ownership of all legal entities be available
to tax authorities and exchanged with treaty partners.
The Global Forum invited developing countries to join the move towards automatic
exchange of information, and a series of pilot projects will offer technical
assistance to facilitate the move. Ministers and other representatives of
African countries agreed to launch a new “African Initiative” to increase
awareness of the merits of transparency in Africa. The project will be led
by the African members of the Global Forum and the Chair, in collaboration
with the African Tax Administration Forum, the OECD, the World Bank Group,
the Centre de Rencontres et d'Etudes des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscales
(CREDAF).
“We are making concrete progress toward the G20 objective of winning the
fight against tax evasion,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria said after
the signing ceremony. "The fact that so many jurisdictions have agreed
today to automatically exchange financial account information shows the significant
change that can occur when the international community works together in
a focused and ambitious manner. The world is quickly becoming a smaller place
for tax cheats, and we are determined to ensure that developing countries
also reap the benefits of greater financial sector transparency.” Read the
full speech.
The Global Forum is the world’s largest network for international cooperation
in the field of taxation and financial information exchange, gathering together
123 countries and jurisdictions on an equal footing. Peru and Croatia joined
the Forum at the Berlin meeting.
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