"Tax co-operation and compliance are of crucial importance for all countries and citizens - and not only in times of a tight fiscal and budgetary environment,” said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría from the Cannes G20 Summit.

India has ratified the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, a multilateral agreement developed jointly by the Council of Europe and the OECD that was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.

Ghana has signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, a multilateral agreement developed jointly by the Council of Europe and the OECD. Ghana is the second African country, after South Africa, to sign the Convention since it was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.

The Global Forum Secretariat enters into a Memorandum of Understanding with the United Arab Emirates, confirming UAE’s commitment to the Global Forum’s work on transparency and exchange of information.

Furthering its efforts to strengthen international tax co-operation, the OECD has issued two new reports on automatic exchange and tax confidentiality. The report on automatic exchange of information describes what it is, how it works, where it stands and what challenges remain. The report on confidentiality of information exchanged examines all aspects of ensuring the protection of information exchanged for tax purposes.

News items following the meeting of the Forum on Tax Administration's Offshore Compliance Network in Tokyo

Global solutions are needed to ensure that tax systems do not unduly profit multinational enterprises, leaving citizens and small businesses with bigger tax bills.

Albania has become the 43rd country to sign the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

This fifth edition describes institutional setups, organisational arrangements and reforms, aspects of strategic management and human resource management, resources for tax administration, important areas of operational performance, the use of technology, and elements of the legislative and administrative framework for tax administration across the 52 economies covered by the series.

Morocco has signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, a multilateral agreement developed jointly by the Council of Europe and the OECD. Morocco is the 45th country to sign the Multilateral Convention since it was updated to meet the international standard on transparency and exchange of information and opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.

Switzerland has become the 58th country to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters during a ceremony at the OECD.

The OECD invites interested parties to send a short description of strategies that might be considered to result in the artificial avoidance of the permanent establishment status in relation to base erosion and profit shifting.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría welcomed today Chile’s recent steps to strengthen international tax co-operation.

The OECD invites public comments on a discussion draft that includes proposed changes to the OECD Model Tax Convention dealing with the operation of ships and aircraft in international traffic.

International efforts to combat tax evasion and avoidance got a boost today as additional countries and jurisdictions agreed to join more than 60 other countries in tax co-operation through a key multilateral tax instrument during the first day of a global meeting in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Kazakhstan has become the 64th signatory of the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the most powerful international instrument to fight international tax avoidance and evasion.

On 22 October 2013, the OECD requested interested parties to send a short description of strategies that might be considered to result in the artificial avoidance of PE status in relation to base erosion and profit shifting. The OECD has now published the only response received following that invitation.

On 15 November 2013, the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs (CFA) invited public comments on a discussion draft on changes to the provisions of the OECD Model Tax Convention dealing with the operation of ships and aircraft in international traffic. The OECD has now published the comments received on that discussion draft.

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.

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 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.

Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD congratulated the newly elected President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for taking a bold first step in his economic reform agenda by substantially cutting fuel subsidies.

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.

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.

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.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published new peer review reports today for 12 countries or jurisdictions, moving further ahead with its goal to implement global standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

Tax administrations continue to face the challenges of improving their performance while reducing costs, decreasing compliance burdens for taxpayers tackling non-compliance. Improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programmes that will further benefit their citizens.

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.

Major implementation milestones are being met by members of the world’s leading forum on tax transparency as the international community continues to move ahead towards greater tax transparency. The imminent shift to the automatic exchange of information will send a strong warning to tax evaders.

Corporate tax revenues have been falling across OECD countries since the global economic crisis, putting greater pressure on individual taxpayers to ensure that governments meet financing requirements, according to new data from the OECD’s annual Revenue Statistics publication.

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.

The European Commission presented today a series of measures for a coordinated EU-wide response to corporate tax avoidance, notably through implementation of the global standards developed under the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting Project. The Commission proposal would align tax laws in all 28 EU countries, in order to fight aggressive tax practices by multinational enterprises

Government officials from around the world have called on the OECD to convene a special project meeting of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network to explore possibilities of co-operation and information-sharing, identify tax compliance risks and agree collaborative action, in light of the “Panama Papers” revelations.

A special project meeting of the Joint International Tax Shelter Information and Collaboration (JITSIC) Network took place at the OECD in Paris on Wednesday 13 April, bringing together senior tax administration officials from countries worldwide to discuss opportunities for obtaining data, co-operation and information-sharing in light of the “Panama Papers” revelations.

The main international organisations working on taxation – the IMF, OECD, UN and WBG – have announced today further details on how they will act together through a Platform for Collaboration on Tax as a response to the growing importance of taxation in the international financing for development debate to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

The role of tax administrations in implementing the OECD/G20 work on the international tax agenda will be the focus of the 10th Plenary meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) to be held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on 11-13 May 2016.

Delivering on the OECD/G20 international tax agenda, through implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exchange of financial account information, took centre stage when Heads of Tax Administration met on 11-13 May in Beijing, China.

Mr Jefferson VanderWolk has been appointed Head of the Tax Treaty, Transfer Pricing & Financial Transactions Division in the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. He will take up his duties in early July 2016.

On 23 May 2016, the OECD Council approved the amendments to the Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations ("Transfer Pricing Guidelines"), as set out in the 2015 BEPS Report on Actions 8-10 "Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation" and the 2015 BEPS Report on Action 13 "Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting".

Representatives of more than 80 countries and jurisdictions have gathered in Kyoto, Japan to push forward ongoing efforts to update international tax rules for the 21st century, the latest step in the OECD/G20 Project to tackle Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).

The four organisations, working jointly as the members of the new Platform for Collaboration on Tax have developed a series of recommendations and enabling actions which are laid out in this draft summary document. The Platform organisations seek comments from interested stakeholders on these recommendations by 8 July 2016.

Following a request of the Italian Minister of Economy and Finance Pier Carlo Padoan, the OECD has carried out a review of the organisational structure and institutional arrangements of Italy’s tax administration, with a focus on the Agenzia delle Entrate and the Agenzia delle Dogane e dei Monopoli. The review also highlights certain critical issues related to tax compliance and collection which emerged in the course of the work.

G20 Finance Ministers, in their communique of February 2016, called upon the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank Group to “recommend mechanisms to help ensure effective implementation of technical assistance programmes, and recommend how countries can contribute funding for tax projects and direct technical assistance, and report back with recommendations” at their July meeting.

Liechtenstein today deposited its instrument of ratification for the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters ("the Convention"). By doing so, Liechtenstein underlines its commitment to fighting tax evasion and avoidance and takes another important step in implementing the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters developed by the OECD and G20 countries.

OECD publishes comments received on the discussion draft on the elements of the design and operation of the group ratio rule under Action 4.

In a ceremony at OECD Headquarters in Paris today, Burkina Faso, Malaysia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Samoa signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, bringing the number of participating jurisdictions to 103.