On 26 and 27 November 2019 the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes held a meeting on its tenth anniversary. The meeting looked at the progress made on the tax transparency agenda.

Banking Secrecy

Substantial progress has been made on ending banking secrecy and almost 100 jurisdictions are automatically exchanging information in relation to financial accounts on an annual basis. The member jurisdictions of the Global Forum have used instruments such as voluntary disclosure programmes and tax investigations to identify hidden revenues including tax, interest and penalties amounting to EUR 102 billion so far.

Further areas in which the Global Forum could extend international tax cooperation include the use of tax information to combat illicit financial flows; identification of virtual assets; the exchange of information on value added tax (VAT) or goods and service tax (GST) on request; and international cooperation in recovering unpaid tax.

Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)

All Global Forum members apart from developing countries without a financial centre were requested to commence exchange of tax information under the AEOI Standard by 2018. Currently 94 jurisdictions are exchanging financial account information and around 6,100 automatic exchanges of information took place in 2019.

Confidentiality

Before exchanges of information commenced the Global Forum assessed the implementation of measures to protect confidentiality of information, both legally and through relevant policies, procedures and systems for exchange. The Forum has launched post-exchange assessments to analyse the practical implementation.

Quality and effectiveness of implementation

The Global Forum has adopted a process in relation to quality of information exchanged, aiming to draw conclusions and make determinations on the relevant issues in 2020. The Forum has also adopted a process that will assess the effectiveness of the practical implementation of the AEOI Standard by each country by 2021, including the due diligence and reporting requirements for financial institutions. The AEOI Peer Review Group (APRG) has been established for this purpose with a mandate running until 31 December 2021.

Transparency and Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR)

The Global Forum is conducting the second round of EOIR peer reviews and so far 61 jurisdictions have been covered. The Forum monitors how its recommendations are dealt with and conducts supplementary reviews if required to assess the progress on implementation.

Future Work

In view of the interest in continuing the work on transparency and international tax cooperation the mandate of the Global Forum has been extended for two years until 31 December 2022. The future work will involve completion of the peer reviews of the effective implementation of the AEOI Standard, due to be finalised by the end of 2021.