Tackling international tax avoidance
The Chancellor recently attended a meeting of the G5 finance ministers in Paris that discussed the age old issue of tax evasion and avoidance. At the meeting, a date for signing automatic exchange of information agreements was agreed between the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
To date, 44 jurisdictions have joined the initiative, launched by the G5 finance ministers in 2013, for early adoption of the new global standard. These jurisdictions have jointly announced that they will begin to automatically exchange information with each other in 2017, with respect to data collected from 31 December 2015.
The new global standard for the automatic exchange of information was developed by the OECD and endorsed by the G20. The G20 brings together finance ministers and central bank governors from 19 countries as well as the European Union, which is represented by the President of the European Council and by Head of the European Central Bank. The G20 members represent almost 90% of global GDP and almost 80% of international global-trade.