OECD reports progress in fighting tax evasion
It has been discussed that money laundering and tax evasion, if not one and the same, are closely linked.
In October, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published 2 new reports that outlined the progress made in the organisation’s campaign against tax evasion.
The report entitled “Improving Access to Bank Information for Tax Purposes – the 2007 Progress Report†provides the description of developments in OECD countries and 6 other countries – China, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Argentina, Chile and India. These development regard access for tax authorities to bank information.
The 2nd report is named “Tax Co-operation: Towards a Level Playing Field – 2007 Assessment by the Global Forum on Taxationâ€. It offers the comparison of the legal frameworks for international tax co-operation of 82 OECD and non-OECD economies.
According to the OECD, “many financial centres, both onshore and offshore, are making progress in improving transparency and international co-operation to counter offshore tax evasion, but some still fall short of international standards that have been developed over the last seven years.”
Paolo Ciocca, chair of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs and co-chair of the Global Forum, commented that no country can address the issue of harmful tax practices on its own as this is a global challenge requiring a global response. OECD aims to achieve it in co-operation with partner financial centres.