“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.  Responding to a mandate from G20 leaders to reinforce action against tax avoidance and evasion and inject greater trust and fairness into the international tax system, the OECD has unveiled today a new single global standard for the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities worldwide. Developed by the OECD together with G20 countries, the standard calls on jurisdictions to obtain information from their financial institutions and exchange that information automatically with other jurisdictions on an annual basis. It sets out the financial account information to be exchanged, the financial institutions that need to report, the different types of accounts and taxpayers covered, as well as common due diligence procedures to be followed by financial institutions. The OECD will formally present the standard for the endorsement of G20 finance ministers during a 22-23 February meeting  in Sydney, Australia. The G20 invited the OECD to develop a global standard on automatic exchange of information in 2013, and remains the driving force behind the move toward greater tax transparency worldwide…The new standard draws extensively on previous OECD work on the automatic exchange of information. It incorporates progress made in this area within the European Union and ongoing efforts to reinforce global anti-money laundering standards. It also recognises the catalytic role that implementation of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has played in the G20 move towards automatic exchange of information in a multilateral context.”

Download the report – Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information

Download the Information Brief on Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information