The EU Parliament’s ‘conference of presidents’, made up of the leaders of political groups, has voted to set up a further committee on financial crimes, tax evasion and tax avoidance, to be known as TAXE 3, which will run for 12 months.
The OECD is consulting on the use of ‘residence by investment’ or ‘citizenship by investment’ schemes in a growing number of jurisdictions, which allow foreign individuals to obtain citizenship or temporary or permanent residence rights in exchange for local investments or against a flat fee.
In a presentation to a working party of the 27 EU member states, excluding the UK, in early February, the European Commission set out plans for a ‘level playing field’ in the EU’s future relationship with the UK after Brexit, which included a tax good governance clause.
The OECD has addressed two further issues in its guidance on CbC reporting (BEPS Action 13) and has released a compilation of alternative approaches adopted in different jurisdictions.
The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) has called upon the European Commission to set out more precise hallmarks to support its proposed new disclosure and reporting rules for intermediaries who advise on cross-border tax planning schemes.
Barbados, Côte d’Ivoire, Jamaica, Malaysia, Panama and Tunisia have signed the OECD’s ‘Multilateral convention to implement tax treaty related measures to prevent BEPS’, bringing to 78 the number of signatories.
Eight members of the OECD’s forum on tax administration (FTA): Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, the UK and the US, have launched a pilot for a new International Compliance Assurance Programme (ICAP) that will use CbC reports and other information to facilitate co-operation