UK and International Tax news

New UK Multilateral Action To Combat Tax Evasion

Wednesday 10th April 2013

The Government has announced that it has agreed with France, Germany, Italy and Spain to develop and pilot multilateral tax information exchange.  Under the agreement, a wide range of financial information will be automatically exchanged between the five countries.  This is intended to help catch and deter tax evaders as well as provide a template for wider multilateral automatic tax information exchange.

 This pilot will be based on the Model Intergovernmental Agreement to Improve International Tax Compliance and to Implement FATCA developed between these countries and the US, which also formed the basis of the subsequent UK-US bilateral automatic exchange agreement.

In a joint letter that has also been issued to the European Commission setting out the terms of the agreement, the G5 Finance Ministers have invited other EU Member States to join in the pilot in order for Europe to take a lead in promoting a global system of automatic information exchange and removing the hiding places for those who would seek to evade paying their taxes.   The letter also refers to improving tax information exchange between all Member States and, in particular, on the implementation of article 8 of the Administrative Cooperation and Mutual Assistance Directive of 2011, which provides for mandatory exchange of information, and on the effective application of the “most favoured nation” provision in its Article 19.

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

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