Amel Abdellatif, Tax Commissioner of Algeria signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (the Convention),  as amended by the 2010 protocol, on 10 October  2024.

The Convention must first be ratified and the ratification instrument deposited for it to take effect in Algeria.

Algeria’s signing of the Convention brings the total number of jurisdictions participating in the Convention to 148.

By signing, Algeria joins the world’s widest-reaching international treaty for international tax co-operation and exchange of information and further strengthens the reach of the Convention in Africa. The signing will pave the way for Algeria to engage in the exchange of information with 147 other jurisdictions, including all major financial centres. These exchange relationships will be added to the over 8000 exchange relationships already in place under the Convention.

The Convention enables jurisdictions to engage in a wide range of mutual assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers’ rights.

The Convention is the primary instrument for the swift implementation of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (CRS). The CRS – developed by the OECD and G20 countries – enables more than 110 jurisdictions to automatically exchange offshore financial account information.

Beyond the exchange of information on request and the automatic exchange pursuant to the Standard, the Convention is also a powerful tool in the fight against illicit financial flows and is a key instrument for the implementation of the transparency standards of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project.