Last month, the OECD presented a progress report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) and its work on Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes at the G20 Summit in Russia.

In its report, the OECD set out its work on three initiatives aimed at tackling offshore tax evasion as well as bringing about changes to the international tax rules. A summary of that work is as follows:

• The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is moving ahead with its peer reviews and is well into its examination of effectiveness, with unambiguous ratings for as many as 50 jurisdictions to be published later this year.
• In line with the report presented to G20 Finance Ministers in February 2013, the OECD is progressing its work on BEPS.
• The OECD, together with the G20 countries, is developing a global model for automatic exchange of information as the new standard and plans to have this work completed by 2014.

The European Commission President Barroso and European Council President Van Rompuy issued a joint statement on the results of the G20 summit noting

“This G20 summit cemented the global paradigm shift towards fairer taxation by endorsing the establishment of the automatic exchange of tax information. We are highly satisfied that this new standard will be implemented as from 2015 among G20 members, as the EU has pushed for. This and the endorsement of the OECD’s work on base erosion and profit shifting provide a powerful signal: The G20 are taking action to make sure that companies and individuals pay the taxes they are due and which are badly needed in these difficult times to invest in our future. Since long, the European Union has been and will continue to be at the forefront of this fight. In order to make it a success we will continue to provide our expertise and experience”.