Targeting tax crime: a whole-of-government approach - July 2009

Footnotes

¹ The Internationally Agreed Tax Standard, which was developed by the OECD in cooperation with non-OECD countries and which was endorsed by G20 Finance Ministers in Berlin in 2004 and by the UN Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters in October 2008, requires exchange of information on request in all tax matters for the administration and enforcement of domestic tax law, without regard to a domestic tax interest requirement or bank secrecy for tax purposes. It also provides for extensive safeguards to protect the confidentiality of the information exchanged.

² Excluding the Special Administrative Regions, which have committed to implementing the Internationally Agreed Tax Standard.

³ These jurisdictions were identified in 2000 as meeting the tax haven criteria as described in the 1998 OECD report.

⁴ The Cayman Islands has enacted legislation that allows it to exchange information unilaterally. It has also identified 12 countries with which it is prepared to do so. This approach is being reviewed by the OECD.

⁵ Austria, Belgium and Switzerland withdrew their reservation to Article 26 of the OECD Model Tax Convention. Belgium has already written to more than 80 countries to propose the conclusion of protocols to update Article 26 of their existing treaties. Austria and Switzerland announced that they have started to write their treaty partners to indicate that they are now willing to enter into renegotiation of their treaties to include the new Article 26.