Despite widespread adherence to international tax standards, their effective use remains uneven in Asia, according to a report by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released on Thursday 27 April at the fourth meeting of the ‘Asia Initiative’ in New Delhi, India.
For the time being, the twenty-two Asian members of the ‘Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes’ are implementing the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request. Sixteen of them have committed to start automatic exchanges of financial account information by 2024.
These countries have reported at least €20.1 billion in additional revenue as a result of the international standards since 2009. The Asia Initiative will strengthen the necessary technical assistance and effectively promote tax transparency throughout the region.
However, many Asian countries are not yet members of the Global Forum and some jurisdictions still make few requests for information exchange. Others have not yet committed to implementing the standard by a specific date.
Four Asian countries remain on the European ‘grey’ list of jurisdictions that have made commitments on good tax governance: Hong Kong and Malaysia, due to their lack of tax fairness, and Vietnam and Thailand, which have not completed their implementation of Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) (see EUROPE 13118/8).
However, Vietnam signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters at the OECD headquarters in Paris in March (see EUROPE 13148/35). The convention enables jurisdictions to engage in a wide range of mutual-assistance measures such as exchange of information, tax audits, and assistance in tax collection. It also provides extensive safeguards to protect taxpayers’ rights.
The European ‘grey’ list will be reviewed in October 2023.
To read the OECD report: https://aeur.eu/f/6nd (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)