ICAI Press Release on OECD Intermediaries Project
Revenue in the clear after OECD report - ICAI
The OECD has today published a report of its findings into the study on the role of the tax intermediaries—accountants, financial institutions and the like—in the operation of tax systems worldwide. The study was commissioned by the Forum on Tax Administration, which comprises representatives of the Revenue authorities within the OECD, and on which Ireland is represented by our Revenue Commissioners.
The report concludes that it is taxpayers, and not their accountants, who create a demand for what the OECD terms as “aggressive tax planning”. To counter this, the report recommends that Revenue authorities worldwide develop closer ties with, and provide better service to, taxpayers. Many of the “new” recommendations in the report have been part of Irish Revenue practice for some time, for example risk management tools in selecting cases for Revenue investigation.
The Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) had, in correspondence both with the OECD and our Revenue, warned against the demonisation of accountants as mere promoters of high risk tax schemes. Successive studies, including Revenue studies, have shown that the vast majority of companies and the self employed engage accountants to assist them in tax compliance and make a significant contribution to the levels of Irish tax compliance, which by international standards are high.
“There are considerable differences in the quality of the relationship between accountants and Revenue bodies in the various OECD countries. There is, by and large, a good working relationship between the Revenue Commissioners and accountants in Ireland. This is far from the case in many other countries. It was essential that these differences were taken into account and that a ‘one-size fits all’ approach was not adopted within the OECD recommendations”, said Brian Keegan, ICAI Director of Taxation. “Otherwise Irish taxpayers and accountants could have been forced into new procedures when dealing with Revenue”.
The report which issued today from Cape Town, following a meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration, includes several other conclusions and recommendations. However the report acknowledges that it is up to each country to decide how to apply the recommendations in their own context.