UK and International Tax news

OECD And Multilateral Convention On Mutual Assistance Update

Saturday 29th April 2017

The OECD has recently announced that the UAE have become the 109th jurisdiction to join the Multilateral Convention against offshore tax evasion and avoidance.

The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“the Convention”) was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and amended by Protocol in 2010. The Convention is the most comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of tax cooperation to tackle tax evasion and avoidance, a top priority for all countries. It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters including exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. It also serves as the premier instrument for implementing the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters developed by the OECD and G20 countries. The Convention will enable the UAE to fulfil their commitment to begin the first of such exchanges by 2018.

The Convention can also be used to implement the transparency measures of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project such as the automatic exchange of CbC reports under Action 13 and the sharing of tax rulings under Action 5. The Convention is also a powerful tool in the fight against illicit financial flows.

If you would like further details on the Convention, please contact Keith Rushen on 0207 486 2378.

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