It was announced on Friday that Germany has joined 15 other countries in signing
the OECD-Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax
Matters, in a step that the OECD argues will help it to combat cross-border tax
evasion more effectively in today’s open global economy.
The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development explained that:
"The Convention, covering both direct and indirect taxes, enables tax
administrations in participating countries to work together to enforce national
tax laws by exchanging information, engaging in multilateral simultaneous tax
examinations and helping each other in tax collection. It respects the fundamental
rights of taxpayers by safeguarding the confidentiality of the information exchanged."
“With the signing of this convention, the German tax administration improves
significantly its network of international cooperation in tax matters, particularly
vis-à-vis non-EU-countries, Germany’s Secretary of State in the
Federal Ministry of Finance, Dr Axel Nawrath, explained last week, continuing:
“This allows for a more effective prosecution of international tax evasion
and tax fraud.”
OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría welcomed Germany's signature of
the Convention:
“Given the Convention’s multilateral nature,” he noted, “its
benefits grow as more countries join. It is a valuable instrument in addressing
tax evasion schemes that often involve more than two countries or are replicated
in different countries.”
The Convention is open for signature to Council of Europe member states and
OECD member countries.
The Parties to the Convention are: Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France,
Iceland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Sweden, the United Kingdom
and the United States.
Canada and Ukraine have signed the Convention and are still in the process
of ratification.
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