The international fight against cross-border tax evasion has taken a step forward with the initiation of a peer review group which aims to assess the progress made by nations in implementing internationally agreed standards of tax transparency.

On March 18th the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) announced the initiation of the first step in the most extensive and through international tax transparency assesment process that has ever been undertaken. Eighteen nations from the 91 participating members of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information will soon undergo extensive analysis to determine the adequacy of their efforts to implement internationally agreed upon taxation standards, such as the effectiveness of the bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) which were signed by all participating jurisdictions. The first set assessment results are expected to be published before the next Global Forum meeting to be held in Singapore in September 2010. The eighteen reviewed nations will consist of Australia, Barbados, Bermuda, Botswana, Canada, Cayman Islands, Denmark, Germany, India, Ireland, Jamaica, Jersey, Mauritius, Monaco, Norway, Panama, Qatar and Trinidad & Tobago.

The peer-reviews come as a response to calls raised by G20 leaders at their Pittsburgh Summit in September 2009 for greater tax transparency and a “robust peer review mechanism” to ensure the rapid, timely and appropriate implementation of the OECD standard on information exchange. Mike Rawson, Chair of the Global Forum, commented on the upcoming reviews, saying: “…this is the most comprehensive, in-depth review on international tax co-operation ever…The peer review process will identify jurisdictions that are not implementing the standards. These will be provided with guidance on the changes required and a deadline to report back on the improvements they have made.”

Photo by claeskrantz