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OECD Welcomes Increased Tax Co-operation,
by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Moves by major financial centres to improve transparency and exchange of information
for tax purposes mark a significant step forward in international tax cooperation
and a welcome result of more than twelve years of OECD work reinforced by the
imminence of the G-20 summit next month, OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria
has opined.
In recent days, Austria, Luxembourg and Switzerland have announced that they
will adopt in their tax treaties an internationally agreed standard of exchange
of information developed by the OECD. Singapore and Hong Kong have stated they
intend to remove domestic hurdles to information exchange, while Andorra and
Liechtenstein have said they will be moving in the same direction. Belgium,
which already signalled a move towards the international standard last year with
a bilateral tax treaty with the United States, said it would be adopting the
same approach in other tax treaties.
“These announcements mark a fundamental change and an important moment
in the history of international tax cooperation,” Gurria said. “At
a time when governments around the world need to maximize tax revenues in order
to address the global economic crisis, this is an extremely important breakthrough.”
“The OECD welcomes these moves and commends these economies for aligning
their standards with those agreed internationally,” he said. “We
also have indications that other jurisdictions, such as Monaco, may be prepared
to move in the same direction, and we look forward to receiving confirmation.”
The OECD states that it will be working closely with countries and jurisdictions to
move towards implementation of the announced measures and to establish the appropriate
monitoring of their performance. Some countries will, however, have to modify
their legislation and renegotiate their existing tax agreements, all of which
will take some time, Gurria noted. Commenting on this prospect, Gurría said: “The issue is too important
to be dealt with in a rush. We all want to advance swiftly, but it is even more
important to do it right.”
Accoring to the OECD it "works with its 30 member countries and with others to develop sound
policy frameworks for the governance of the world economy. It plays a leading
role in such areas as tax policy, competition policy, cross-border investment,
corporate governance and the fight against corruption."
“In the current crisis, it is important to assure honest taxpayers that
tax burdens are being fairly shared,” Mr. Gurría said. “Improvements
in exchange of information in tax matters are part of a broader agenda to improve
transparency and global governance and to restore confidence in financial markets.”
As input into preparations for the forthcoming G-20 summit in London on April
2, 2009, the OECD has provided factual information on jurisdictions that are
not at present making significant progress towards implementing an agreed international
standard on transparency and exchange of information, noted the release.
This standard, boasts the OECD, developed in co-operation with non-OECD countries
and endorsed by G-20 finance ministers in 2004 and by the United Nations committee
of experts on international cooperation in tax matters in October 2008, provides
for full exchange of information on request in all tax matters for the administration
and enforcement of domestic tax law without regard to a domestic tax interest
requirement or bank secrecy for tax purposes. However, it also recognises the role of banking secrecy, as it provides for
extensive safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the information exchanged
and does not allow so-called “fishing expeditions”.
“In practice, all countries have some form of bank secrecy and all countries
acknowledge the importance of protecting the privacy of tax payer information,”
Gurría added. “Meeting this standard does not jeopardize the confidentiality
of taxpayer information. What it will do is ensure that tax authorities in both
developed and developing countries have the necessary information to enable
them to apply tax rules fully and fairly.”
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