Berlin, October 29, 2014

The newest OECD and G20 standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today in Berlin by all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. The status report in committed and not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.

The jurisdictions expressed their commitments into action by a convincing signing of a Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement that will activate automatic exchange of information, based on the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Earlier adopter states who signed the agreement have pledged to work towards launching their first information exchanges by September 2017.

The Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters was recently presented by OECD to the G20 Finance Ministers during a meeting in Cairns last September. It provides for exchange of all financial information on automaticaly annual basis. Most members have committed to implementing this Standard on reciprocal basis with all interested jurisdictions.

The Global Forum will establish a peer review process to ensure effective implementation of automatic exchange. Governments also agreed to raise the bar on the standard of exchange of information upon request, by including a requirement that beneficial ownership of all legal entities be available to tax authorities and exchanged with treaty partners.

The Global Forum invited developing countries to join the move towards  automatic exchange of information, and a series of pilot projects will offer technical assistance  to facilitate the move. Ministers and other representatives of African countries agreed to launch a new “African Initiative” to increase awareness of the merits of transparency in Africa. The project will be led by African members of the Global Forum and the Chair, in collaboration with the African Tax Administration Forum, the OECD, the World Bank Group, the Centre de Rencontres et d’Etudes des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscales (CREDAF).

The Global Forum is the world’s largest network for international cooperation in the field of taxation and financial information exchange,gathering together 123 countries and jurisdictions on an equal footing. Peru and Croatia  joined the Forum at the Berlin meeting.

For further information on the Global Forum meeting in Berlin, including a Statement of Outcomes, go to: www.oecd.org/tax/transparency.

For further information on the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters, today’s signing ceremony and the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, go to: www.oecd.org/ctp/exchange-of-tax-information/automaticexchange.htm.

Source: www.oecd.org