THE OECD published a new set of bilateral exchange relationships established under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA).

In total, the international legal network for the automatic exchange of offshore financial account information under the CRS now covers over 90 jurisdictions, with the remaining dozen set to follow suit over summer. The network will allow over 100 committed jurisdictions to exchange CRS information in September 2018 under more than 3200 bilateral relationships that are now in place, an increase of over 500 since April of this year.

The last two months have also been marked by a significant increase of jurisdictions participating in the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which is the prime international instrument for all forms of exchange of information in tax matters, including the exchange upon request, as well as the automatic exchange of CRS information and Country-by-Country Reports.

Since early May, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Grenada, Hong Kong (China), Liberia, Macau (China), Paraguay and Vanuatu have joined the Convention, bringing the total number of participating jurisdictions to 124. In addition, The Bahamas, Bahrain, Grenada, Peru and the United Arab Emirates have deposited their instruments of ratification.

These recent developments show that jurisdictions are now completing the final steps for being able to commence CRS exchanges by September 2018, therewith delivering on their commitment made at the level of the G20 and the Global Forum.