Global Forum on tax transparency welcomes new members and reviews 12 countries
At the Global Forum in Cape Town, South Africa, delegates from 81 jurisdictions and 11 international organisations evaluated whether all Forum members are exchanging tax information effectively.
The Forum’s Peer review report of South Africa, one of the the most active jurisdictions in the work towards transparency and exchange of information, finds the country’s legal framework and practices to be in accordance with the internationally agreed standard.
The importance of the Global Forum’s work in the region is highlighted by the election of its new Chair, Mr. Kosie Louw from South Africa. An increasing number of African countries are now members of the Global Forum, with Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Gabon, Tunisia and Uganda joining recently. In addition, Ghana and Kenya are engaged in a pilot project with the Global Forum’s progamme of technical assistance.
“The work of the Global Forum is key for South Africa and the African region,” said Pravin Gordhan, South Africa’s Minister of Finance. “Tax evasion is a barrier to development, growth and healthy societies. Seeing so many countries around the table today in Cape Town, working together to build a transparent environment, is very encouraging.”
On the occasion of the Global Forum meeting, the Czech Republic, Malta and New Zealand signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, following the signature by Romania earlier this month. Lithuania, Nigeria, Gabon, Kazakhstan and Latvia signed letters of intent to sign the Convention and such letters had earlier been received from Albania, Belize, Estonia, Morocco and Niue.
In less than 2 years since the amendment to the Convention responding to a call from the G 20 more than 50 countries have either become signatories or have stated their intention to do so.
“Especially in a time of austerity, we need to work together and ensure that everybody pays his or her share of taxes legally due”, OECD Deputy Secretary General Rintaro Tamaki said at the opening of the signing ceremony. “The Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters is a powerful tool that reinforces international cooperation to target tax evasion and avoidance by both individuals and corporations.”
Nine Peer Review Reports Adopted and Three Supplementary Reports
The Global Forum has adopted a further 7 Phase 1 reports (Dominica, Marshall Islands, Niue, Russia, Samoa, Sint Maarten and Slovenia), 2 Combined reports (Argentina and South Africa) and 3 Supplementary reports (Liechtenstein, Monaco and Uruguay). As a result of the Supplementary reports, the Global Forum has determined that Liechtenstein and Uruguay can now move to a Phase 2 review.
With 88 jurisdictions already reviewed, the Global Forum is reaching the end of the Phase 1 reviews. The stand-alone Phase 2 reviews, which examine whether countries are enforcing their tax-related legislation, was launched in the second quarter of 2012. These reviews will provide in-depth investigations into the procedures and resources available for the exchange of information The first stand-alone Phase 2 reviews will be published in 2013 and more than 50 Phase 2 reviews will be completed by the end of the same year.
Source: OECD
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