AT their meeting yesterday, heads of tax crime investigation from 44 countries welcomed the launch of a new edition of the groundbreaking global reference guide setting out the ten core requirements for jurisdictions to be able to effectively tackle tax crime while ensuring that taxpayers' rights are respected

First released in 2017, Fighting Tax Crime – The Ten Global Principles sets out ten essential legal, institution, administrative and operational mechanisms necessary for putting in place an efficient system for fighting tax crimes and other financial crimes. The latest edition addresses new challenges, including through the incorporation of the recommendations from the recently released report on tackling the small group of professionals who enable tax and other white-collar crimes, and shares best practices in international co-operation in the fight against tax crimes. The report also presents 33 country profiles detailing countries' domestic tax crime enforcement frameworks as well as highlighting the progress made in implementing the Ten Global Principles.

The Forum of Heads of Tax Crime Investigation of the OECD's Task Force on Tax Crimes and Other Crimes also discussed current and emerging risks, including those arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, and agreed ambitious proposals for improving the tools and capabilities necessary for combatting tax crimes, both domestically and globally. These proposals build on successful recent international collaboration on tackling professional enablers, knowledge sharing and capacity building, and include the creation of new workstreams to:

- take forward practical improvements on the tax crime side as regards international exchange of information and the recovery of the proceeds of crime, including leveraging new technology and analytical tools;

- develop toolkits to assist in investigations of the misuse of illicit virtual assets and in tackling the professional enablers of tax and other crimes; and

- consider how best to maximise the use of automatically exchanged information on financial accounts under the Common Reporting Standard for criminal investigations as well as the possible options for more real-time access to legal and beneficial ownership information, subject to appropriate safeguards and legal bases.

The Forum of Heads of Tax Crime Investigation also underlined the importance of further expansion of collective capacity building efforts to enhance the capabilities of criminal investigators across the globe to tackle the scourge of tax crime which, unchecked, undermines national and international finances, society and security.

Commenting on yesterday's meeting, Commissioner Bob Hamilton, of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and Chair of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration said, "The CRA was proud to co-host this timely meeting of the Forum of Heads of Tax Crime Investigation which has agreed on a wide-ranging and ambitious set of proposals for further collaborative work. As we begin to recover from the pandemic, working together to tackle tax crime and illicit finance is critical to the protection of public finances, public safety and public confidence."

"With criminals increasingly operating across-borders, including misusing new technology tools, effective and timely international collaboration and co-operation is crucial. Criminals will always seek to exploit weaknesses, and our best tools are the effective implementation of the Ten Global Principles by all countries and the deepening of international co-operation" , commented Grace Perez-Navarro, Deputy Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.