On 15 April 2016 it was announced that Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have agreed to exchange information on beneficial ownership of companies and of “trusts with tax consequences”. The five European countries will explore the best way to exchange the information and develop a standard for information exchange on beneficial ownership that will involve linking national registries.
This move follows the leak of the Panama Papers. An important issue highlighted by the leaked papers has been the ease with which wealthy individuals and enterprises could register assets abroad and conceal the ultimate beneficial owner.
The UK Chancellor of the Exchequer has written to G20 finance ministers suggesting that the OECD should play a leading role in introducing information exchange standards on beneficial ownership and the linking of national registers.
The definition of trusts with tax consequences is not yet clear but at a news conference the Chancellor referred to trusts that have been used as conduits for evading tax and laundering money and benefiting from corruption.
