On 3 February 2022 the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published the 2022 Global Forum Capacity Building Report. Over the past decade the Global Forum has been involved in capacity building to support countries in the implementation of the international standards on exchange of information on request (EOIR) and automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI).
The Forum’s capacity building activities involve the training of tax administration officials; programmes to prepare local tax staff to take over as trainers; the provision of e-learning courses; and the publication of toolkits to guide administrations on the effective implementation of the international standards.
Regional capacity building programmes have focused on Africa, Latin America and the Pacific Islands. A new Asia Initiative is to be launched in 2022 to strengthen international co-operation in tax transparency and exchange of information.
Most developing countries have now implemented the EOIR standard. Also 36 developing country jurisdictions are committed to implementing the AEOI standard and a further 12 developing countries are committed to begin exchanging information by 2022 to 2024.
Since 2011, a total of 66 developing countries have joined the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention facilitates administrative co-operation between countries in the assessment and collection of taxes. This allows multiple forms of co-operation such as the exchange of tax and other information, including automatic exchanges, and cooperation in the recovery of foreign tax claims.
The capacity building work of the Global Forum equips developing country tax administrations to better deal with tax avoidance and evasion and thereby helps to promote domestic resource mobilisation.
Toolkits
New toolkits issued in 2020/21 include a joint Global Forum and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) toolkit on Building Effective Beneficial Ownership Frameworks. This looks at the beneficial ownership standard and draws on experience from the Global Forum’s peer reviews to provide practical information on implementation of the standards.
The Toolkit for the Implementation of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Information looks at the standard and the materials available to help with implementation and monitoring of the standard. Key building blocks for implementing the standard are examined. The toolkit also gives practical advice on making effective use of the data available, including data matching, use in risk analysis and assessing taxpayer compliance.
The Model Manual on Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes was prepared by the Global Forum in cooperation with the World Bank Group and the African Development Bank. It sets out the principles of tax information exchange and the main types of information exchange that can help tax administrations to combat tax avoidance and evasion. Drawing on international experience, the Model Manual provides practical guidance in setting up the procedures necessary to implement effective information exchange and looks in detail at the role of tax auditors and field officers in the exchange of information.
Global e-learning courses
The e-learning courses have been followed by more than five thousand tax officials since they were introduced in 2019. The topics covered are the exchange of information as a tool to combat tax evasion; beneficial ownership; exchange of information on request; the confidentiality and data safeguards assessment process; and confidentiality and safeguards requirements.
