Participants from forty-nine delegations including regional and international tax organizations attended the Tenth Meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration from 11 to 13 May 2016. The delegates confirmed their commitment to continuing cooperation to tackle offshore tax evasion and to create a fairer and more transparent international tax system.

Implementation of the OECD/20 agenda

The delegates discussed the effective implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project. Following the approval of the final BEPS reports by the G20 leaders countries are now moving to the implementation stage through the new inclusive framework. This will contribute to the review and monitoring of BEPS implementation and the first meeting is to be held in June 2016.

The meeting agreed on the actions required to receive and utilize the data from country by country reporting (CbC) and the automatic exchange of information. The countries intend to continue to develop additional tools to make sure that data is used effectively.

A Common Transmission System (CTS) has been designed, creating the first global bilateral exchange system linking tax administrations and enabling them to exchange and use CbC and common reporting standard (CRS) data. Data security is the main consideration in the design of the CTS and includes leading industry standards of encryption that are applied to each transmission. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes will be closely involved in the operation of the CTS. The system should be operational in time for the first exchanges of CRS data in September 2017.

Collective efforts to tackle tax avoidance and evasion are to continue through the Joint International Taskforce on Shared Intelligence and Cooperation (JITSIC) network. This network of tax administration officials will help tax administration to respond to global compliance risks through collaboration and action. It provides an important tool for co-operation among tax administrations in countering international tax avoidance and offshore tax evasion and is a flexible mechanism for undertaking cross-border compliance and enforcement activities.

The publication “Co-operative Tax Compliance: Building Better Tax Control Frameworks” was released during the conference.

Building modern tax administrations

The participants discussed the building of modern tax administrations that are able to effectively respond to the challenges and opportunities arising from the increasingly digital world. The conference noted that technological advances offer important opportunities for tax administrations to improve taxpayer service and strengthen tax compliance.

Publications entitled “Technologies for Better Tax Administration: A Practical Guide for Revenue Bodies”, “Advanced Analytics for Better Tax Administration: Putting Data to Work” and “Rethinking Tax Services: The Changing Role of Tax Service Providers in SME Tax Compliance” were released during the conference.

A new joint approach has been launched by the OECD, the Inter-American Center of Tax Administration (CIAT), the Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to collect comparative data on tax administrations. This enables the compilation of a data set covering more than 150 tax administrations with reduced costs and greater efficiency. Based on this the OECD has launched the 2016 international survey on tax administration that will provide comparative information on more than 56 tax administrations in advanced and emerging economies.

Building capacity

An effective tax administration is important for domestic resource mobilization and sustainable development. The delegates discussed helping to build up capacity in all tax administrations, including those with few resources, and ensuring that all countries can benefit from the changes in international taxation including the recommendations arising from the BEPS project. The meeting discussed ways of improving the effectiveness of capacity building and how to enhance coordination between tax administrations and international organizations.

The conference approved four important recommendations to guide future efforts in the organization and delivery of tax administration capacity building assistance. These related to the adoption of a common Tax Administration Capacity Building Framework; the domestic application of a ‘whole-of-government’ approach to capacity building; participation in the development of the Knowledge Sharing Platform, a global online tool to allow broader and faster sharing of knowledge and expertise between tax administrations; and the establishment of a Capacity Building Network.

A publication entitled “Tax Administrations and Capacity Building: A Collective Challenge” was also released at the event.