Vast amounts of money are kept off-shore and go untaxed. The more we do to combat tax fraud and evasion, the more resources we will have to finance growth-enhancing public investment, restore the health of public finances, and put the euro area economy back on a sustained and long-term recovery, said OECD Secretary-General.

The international community has taken new steps to strengthen transparency and boost the comprehensive exchange of information between governments worldwide.

Offshore tax evasion remains a serious problem for countries and jurisdictions worldwide, with vast amounts of funds deposited abroad and sheltered from taxation when taxpayers fail to comply with obligations in their home countries.

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.

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.

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.

As the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) approach their expiry date, we must focus our efforts on ensuring a brighter, more inclusive and sustainable future for all. We face a plethora of common issues: growing inequalities; changing consumption patterns and population dynamics; increasing natural resource scarcity; and ongoing illicit financial flows.

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.

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.

Vast amounts are lost to illicit financial flows, including tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and corruption. These crimes threaten the strategic, political and economic interests of both developed and developing countries. In a world of limited resources and increasing complexity, it is essential for government authorities to work closely together in a “whole of government” approach to best address these challenges.

Keeping tax transparency high on the agenda of Governments and taking steps to ensure a worldwide level playing field will top the agenda during the 8th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29-30 October 2015.

On 17 December 2015 Greenland signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to exchange in 2017.

Malaysia today signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to commence exchanges in 2018.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), 31 countries signed today the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports. The signing ceremony marks an important milestone towards implementation of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project and a significant increase in cross-border cooperation on tax matters.

In a continued effort to boost transparency in international tax matters, the OECD has today released its standardised electronic format for the exchange of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reports between jurisdictions – the CbC XML Schema – as well as the related User Guide.

The OECD and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes announced today that Bahrain, Lebanon, Nauru, Panama and Vanuatu have now committed to share financial account information automatically with other countries.

Paraguay has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes as its 134th member.

The OECD has today released its standardised IT-format for providing structured feedback on exchanged Common Reporting Standard information – the CRS Status Message XML Schema – as well as the related User Guide.

The OECD welcomes Panama’s decision to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which was formally communicated to the OECD in a letter from its Vice President and announced publicly on Friday 15 July 2016.

Today, as a further step to implement the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the first series of bilateral automatic exchange relationships were established among the first batch of jurisdictions committed to exchanging information automatically as of 2017.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Brazil, Guernsey, Jersey, the Isle of Man and Latvia signed today the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports, bringing the total number of signatories to 49.

The Inclusive Framework on BEPS has released two new documents to support the global implementation of Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting (BEPS Action 13).

Today, another important step to implement the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS) was taken, with a further 350 bilateral automatic exchange relationships being established between over 50 jurisdictions committed to exchanging information automatically pursuant to the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), starting in 2017.

Thailand's membership reinforces its commitment to implement both the international standard of exchange of information on request and the standard of automatic exchange of financial account information.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Gabon, Hungary, Indonesia, Lithuania, Malta, Mauritius and the Russian Federation have now signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC MCAA), bringing the total number of signatories to 57. Lithuania and Hungary joined the Agreement in October and December 2016 respectively.

To further support the consistent implementation of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the OECD today released a series of additional CRS-related Frequently Asked Questions; and the second edition of the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters.

As part of its ongoing efforts to maintain the integrity of the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), the OECD is today launching a disclosure facility on the AEOI portal which allows interested parties to report potential schemes to circumvent the CRS.Over 1800 bilateral exchange relationships in place for the exchange of CRS information.

The OECD welcomes the decision by The Bahamas to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which was formally communicated to the OECD in a letter from The Bahamas’ Minister of Finance, the Hon Kevin P. Turnquest MP, on Monday 29 May 2017.

Today, the OECD has released updated and new IT-tools and guidance to support the technical implementation of the exchange of tax information under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), on Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC) and in relation to tax rulings (ETR).

Tax administrations are playing a critical role as governments start implementing new international measures to counter offshore evasion and combat tax avoidance by multinational enterprises.

The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) is the leading international body concerned with tax administration. The FTA, which brings together Tax Commissioners from 50 advanced and emerging tax administrations (including OECD and G20 countries), held its Plenary meeting in Oslo on 27-29 September.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), Qatar has signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for Country-by-Country Reporting (CbC MCAA), bringing the total number of signatories to 68.

The Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which is the basis for the automatic annual exchange of information on offshore financial accounts to the tax authorities of the residence country of account holders. At present, over 100 jurisdictions have publicly committed to implement the CRS, with half of them having started the exchange of CRS information in September and a further 53 set to follow in 2018.

Today, a further important step was taken to implement Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting in accordance with the BEPS Action 13 minimum standard, through activations of automatic exchange relationships under the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of CbC Reports ("the CbC MCAA").

Today, the OECD published a new set of bilateral exchange relationships established under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA) which for the first time includes activations by Panama. The OECD also released the second edition of the Common Reporting Standard Implementation Handbook.

Today, the OECD published a new set of bilateral exchange relationships established under the Common Reporting Standard Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (CRS MCAA), bringing the total number of relationships to over 3200, an increase of more than 500 since April of this year.

Tax officials from 21 jurisdictions met this week in Yangzhou, China, to share experiences from the first year of country-by-country reporting and explore how information can be used most effectively in the tax risk assessment of MNE groups. The workshop also included representatives of large MNE groups headquartered or with major operations in China and the Asia-Pacific region.

Global cooperation to fight tax evasion and avoidance has grown rapidly over the past few years. Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information between tax authorities about financial assets and activities of their taxpayers abroad has proved to be a valuable tool in this fight.

The Global Forum held its annual meeting in Uruguay on 20-22 November, bringing together 220 delegates from 84 jurisdictions and 12 International organisations to strengthen further the international community’s fight against tax evasion. The meeting marked the widespread rollout of automatic exchange of financial account of information.

The purpose of the CbC MCAA is to set forth rules and procedures as may be necessary for Competent Authorities of jurisdictions implementing BEPS Action 13 to automatically exchange CbC Reports prepared by the Reporting Entity of an MNE Group and filed on an annual basis with the tax authorities of the jurisdiction of tax residence of that entity with the tax authorities of all jurisdictions in which the MNE Group operates.

The Forum on Tax Administration (FTA), the 53 leading global tax administrations, met in Chile on 26-28 March and agreed an ambitious agenda focused on tax certainty, enhanced tax co-operation and the collective challenges of digital transformation.

The OECD has added new features to its MLI Matching Database. The database now includes information on entry into effect dates for matched agreements and the option to calculate entry into effect dates on the basis of anticipated dates of deposits. The expanded database also includes references to synthesised texts, if available.

In order to support the automatic exchange of information collected under the OECD’s Model Mandatory Disclosure Rules on Common Reporting Standard (CRS) Avoidance Arrangements and Opaque Offshore Structures (MDRs), the OECD has today released the international administrative and operational framework for the exchange of information collected under the MDRs.

The Global Forum Secretariat is assisting Morocco in preparing for its second round of peer review aimed at assessing its compliance with the international standard of exchange of information on request.

Today marks an important milestone for the OECD/UNDP Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative (TIWB) with the launch of a project on automatic exchange of information. The project, which will be co-ordinated with the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, was unveiled during its 10th Anniversary Meeting in Paris, France.

Today, the OECD released IT-formats and guidance to support the technical implementation of the OECD Treaty Relief and Compliance Enhancement (TRACE) initiative, as well as to facilitate the wider use of the OECD Common Transmission System (CTS) for the exchange of information between tax administrations.

The Global Forum and the Italian Revenue Agency carried out an onsite visit in Tirana to assist Albania with the implementation of the international standard of automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI).

Comprised of 34 Global Forum members, the Automatic Exchange of Information Peer Review Group (APRG) held its first meeting on 16-18 March 2020 to discuss key issues in ensuring that jurisdictions are putting in place what is required to deliver an effective AEOI Standard, as well as how the recent developments in relation to Covid-19 might impact expectations.

These country notes contain indicators which compare the political and institutional frameworks of national governments as well as revenues and expenditures, employment, and compensation. They include a description of government policies on integrity, e-government and open government.