OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría has welcomed moves by more than 40 countries – reinforced by EU leaders - to commit to a detailed timetable to step up the fight against tax evasion.

Following the financial crisis in 2008, millions of citizens faced hardship as they set about repairing the damage done to their economies and to public finances. For most people, the necessary sacrifice was bearable as long as it was shared fairly by everyone in society. Unfortunately, the evidence shows that this was not the case when it came to some large global companies.

Over 330 senior tax officials from more than 110 jurisdictions and international organisations met in Paris on 26-28 March 2014 during the 3rd Annual Meeting of the Global Forum on Transfer Pricing.

Personal income tax has risen in 25 out of 34 OECD countries over the past three years, as countries reduce the value of tax-free allowances and tax credits and subject higher proportions of earnings to tax, according to new data in the annual Taxing Wages publication.

On 24 March 2014, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on the Discussion Draft on Tax Challenges of the Digital Economy related to Action 1 of the BEPS Action Plan. The OECD now publishes the comments received.

The international community continues making progress toward greater cooperation to ensure effective information exchange in tax matters. The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes issued today 12 new reports that highlight action being taken by jurisdictions to implement the international standard for exchange of information on request.

Tax for development: why better public services matter

Tax revenues are currently rising as a proportion of national incomes in Indonesia and Malaysia but continue to be substantially lower than for Korea, Japan and other OECD countries, according to a new OECD report.

Bank secrecy for tax purposes is coming to an end as countries and major financial centres commit to automatic exchange of information between jurisdictions.

Andorra has become the 48th signatory to an OECD Declaration that commits countries to end bank secrecy for tax purposes.

Cameroon has become the 65th signatory of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the most powerful international instrument to fight international tax avoidance and evasion.

Gabon has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters at a ceremony today at the OECD. Gabon is the seventh African country to sign the Convention since it was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.

Company cars form a large proportion of the car fleet in many OECD countries and are also influential in determining the composition of the wider vehicle fleet. When employees provided with a company car use that car for personal purposes, personal income tax rules value the benefit in a number of different ways.

Diesel and gasoline account for around 95% of energy used for road transport in the OECD and for the largest share of revenue from taxes on energy. In 33 out of 34 OECD countries, diesel fuel is taxed at lower rates than gasoline both in terms of energy and carbon content.

The OECD Council approved yesterday the contents of the 2014 update to the OECD Model Tax Convention. The update will be incorporated in a revised version of the Model Tax Convention that will be published in the next few months.

Taking an important step towards greater transparency and putting an end to banking secrecy in tax matters, the OECD today released the full version of a new global standard for the exchange of information between jurisdictions.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today 13 new peer review reports demonstrating progress toward implementation of the international standard for exchange of information on request. The Global Forum also issued compliance ratings for 10 jurisdictions.

Heads of tax crime investigation in 44 countries, as well as the Financial Action Task Force and World Customs Organisation, have come together this week at Europol Headquarters in the Hague for the second meeting of the OECD Forum of Heads of Tax Crime Investigation.

The OECD released today its first recommendations for a co-ordinated international approach to combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises, under the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project designed to create a single set of international tax rules to end the erosion of tax bases and the artificial shifting of profits to jurisdictions to avoid paying tax.

The OECD has been mandated by the G20 to develop toolkits to support developing countries addressing base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) and to launch pilot tests to assist them to move towards automatic exchange of information.

Advanced economies are pushing up carbon emissions, traffic congestion and air pollution by under-taxing company cars and diesel fuel, according to new OECD research.

This paper reviews the use of tax preferences to achieve environmental policy objectives. Tax preferences involve using the tax system to adjust relative prices with a view to influencing producer or consumer behaviour in favour of goods or services that are considered to be environmentally beneficial.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría welcomed today the Principality of Monaco’s commitment to strengthen international tax co-operation after it became the 84th jurisdiction participating in the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

The Ninth Meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) met in Dublin, Ireland on 23-24 October to discuss the implementation of the BEPS Project and automatic exchange of information.

The new OECD/G20 standard on automatic exchange of information was endorsed today by all OECD and G20 countries as well as major financial centres participating in the annual meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in Berlin. A status report on committed and not committed jurisdictions will be presented to G20 leaders during their annual summit in Brisbane, Australia on November 15-16.

The OECD released today its new Strategy for Deepening Developing Country Engagement in the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, which will strengthen their involvement in the decision-making processes and bring them to the heart of the technical work.

Switzerland has today become the 52nd jurisdiction to sign the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement, which will allow it to go forward with plans to activate automatic exchange of financial account information in tax matters with other countries beginning in 2018.

Tax burdens and revenue collection in advanced economies are reaching record levels not seen since before the global financial crisis, but the tax mix continues varying widely across countries, according to new OECD research published today.

Public comments are invited on the discussion draft on the use of profit splits in the context of global value chains, released as part of the work in relation to Action 10 of the BEPS Action Plan.

The Colombian economy has done remarkably well over the last decade, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing countries in Latin America, but a comprehensive tax reform that promotes investment and diversifies the economy is now needed to put the country on a path toward stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Colombia.

The agreed mandate authorises the formation of an ad-hoc negotiating group, open to participation from all states. The group will be hosted by the OECD and will hold its first meeting by July 2015, with an aim to conclude drafting by 31 December 2016.

On 16 December 2014, the OECD invited comments from interested parties on a discussion draft on the use of profit splits in the context of global value chains. This work relates to Action 10 of the BEPS Action Plan. The OECD is grateful to the commentators for their input, and now publishes the comments received.

Tax revenues in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have remained stable in 2013 and continue to be considerably lower, as a proportion of national incomes, than in most OECD countries.

The Slovak Republic was among the fastest growing OECD economies in the last decade. It is broadly recognised that the 2004 tax reform contributed to this success. Ten years after this fundamental reform, however, the time has come to re-evaluate some of the key characteristics of the Slovak tax system.

This paper provides an update of the indicators that measure the tax autonomy of sub-central governments in OECD countries. Over the last decade, tax autonomy at the state level increased, while it hardly changed at the local level. The OECD now has tax autonomy indicators for the years 1995, 2002, 2005, 2008 and 2011.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today 9 new peer review reports, including a Phase 1 Supplementary Report for Switzerland, demonstrating continuing progress toward implementation of the international standard for exchange of information on request.

The OECD Secretary-General Gurría welcomed the announcement and congratulated the Commission for the work done. "The European Commission’s initiative is another major step to tackle corporate tax avoidance.

Taxes on wages have risen by about 1 percentage point for the average worker in OECD countries between 2010 and 2014 even though the majority of governments did not increase statutory income tax rates, according to a new OECD report.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today new peer review reports for the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Morocco.

El Salvador signed today the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, becoming the 86th signatory to the most comprehensive instrument for boosting international co-operation against offshore tax evasion.

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

The European Commission presented today an Action Plan to fundamentally reform corporate taxation in the EU. The Action Plan sets out a series of initiatives to tackle tax avoidance, secure sustainable revenues and strengthen the Single Market for businesses.

Proposals to increase environmentally related taxes are often challenged on competitiveness grounds. The concern is that value creation in certain sectors might decline domestically if a country introduces environmentally related taxes unilaterally. This paper provides evidence on the short-term competitiveness impacts of the German electricity tax introduced unilaterally in 1999.

In line with the international movement towards more transparency and exchange of information, Mauritius has taken a significant step to enhance its exchange of information legal framework and has signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

Governments are under-utilising taxation as a tool to curb the environmental consequences of energy use, foregoing revenue and weakening their attack on the principal source of greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change and air pollution, according to new OECD analysis.

Proposals to increase environmentally related taxes are often challenged on competitiveness grounds. The concern is that value creation in certain sectors might decline domestically if a country introduces environmentally related taxes unilaterally. This paper provides evidence on the short-term competitiveness impacts of the German electricity tax introduced unilaterally in 1999.

Taxes are potentially among the most effective ways of cutting pollution and greenhouse gas emissions, but they are currently – with very few exceptions – underused; and even where used, they are frequently designed in a sub-optimal way.

The OECD and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have launched a new initiative to help developing countries bolster domestic revenues by strengthening their tax audit capacities.

The OECD is holding three tax events on the side-lines of the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Taxpayer education is the bridge linking tax administration and citizens and a key tool to transform tax culture. Covering innovative strategies in 28 countries, this publication offers ideas and inspiration for taxpayer education, literacy and outreach. The presentation ceremony, which took place in Bolivia, was attended by representatives of EuropeAid, EUROsociAL, Bolivia's National Tax Service and the OECD.