G20 Leaders today welcomed OECD recommendations that will help restore fairness, integrity and transparency to the international tax system.
The G20 is on track to deliver on the two-year Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan to address tax avoidance, with all actions scheduled to be delivered this year as promised.
All G20 and OECD members, representing 44 countries and around 90 per cent of the world economy, are committed to the Action Plan reforms which will bring international tax rules into the 21st century.
These reforms will restore the integrity of tax bases and ensure individuals and small businesses do not carry the tax burden unfairly.
They will also ensure countries receive the taxes they are due; revenue which can then be used to provide infrastructure and services to benefit their citizens.
At this Summit, G20 Leaders have endorsed a new global transparency standard that will leave no place for tax cheats to hide.
More than 90 jurisdictions will begin automatic exchange of tax information, using a common reporting standard by 2017 or 2018.
This will arm tax authorities around the world with the information they need to identify tax cheats and enforce the tax laws.
The G20 is working with low-income and other developing countries to ensure they are involved with and benefit from the G20’s tax agenda. The next stage of the BEPS project will see developing countries engaged in developing solutions.
Australia will do its part by assisting the Philippines to implement the automatic exchange of tax information as part of the fight against tax cheats.
Leadership by the G20 on this important issue is having an immediate effect. The OECD estimates that information exchange arrangements have already yielded A$53 billion dollars of revenue in around 20 OECD and G20 countries through increased voluntary disclosures by taxpayers.
Collaboration by tax authorities is the key to enforcing compliance and identifying tax risks.
Recently, 38 tax authorities formally committed to increasing their collaboration to complement the BEPS policy reforms.
G20 Leaders welcome this further collaboration on cross-border compliance activities.
16 November 2014