Sixteen States' Tax Transparency Frameworks Reviewed

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

04 November 2015

Sixteen peer review reports were released at the recent plenary meeting of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes on October 29-30, 2015.

The release of the reports follows reviews of those territories' legislation for the exchange of tax information and their frameworks for the exchange of tax information in practice.

Favorable Phase 1 reports, looking at their respective legal frameworks, were released for Azerbaijan, Gabon, Romania, and Senegal, enabling them to move to Phase 2. Phase 2 reports, which assess how information is exchanged in practice, included a "compliant" rating for Colombia, "largely compliant" ratings for Latvia and Liechtenstein, and 'partially compliant" ratings for Costa Rica and Samoa.

A number of supplementary reviews were also published. Brunei Darussalam, Dominica, and Panama, which were blocked from progressing to Phase 2, have now made sufficient progress in amending their domestic legislation.

Cyprus, Luxembourg, and the Seychelles had previously been rated "non-compliant." Following significant changes to their legal frameworks or practices, they have been assigned a new rating of "largely compliant."

For the next round of reviews in 2016, the Global Forum will use new international standards that will require territories to increase transparency surrounding the beneficial ownership of all legal entities.

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