[ap-intact] INFO: Tackling tax evasion - Follow the money
[Facilitator's note: AP-INTACT has a special series this week on illicit financial flows. Thank you to Shervin Majlessi, Regional Anti-Corruption Adviser, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, Bangkok Regional Hub, for sharing the information below.]
The rich and tax-shy already have fewer places to hide. America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), passed in 2010, forces thousands of foreign financial institutions to report American clients’ balances to its tax authority, the IRS, or face stiff penalties. The European Union is strengthening its savings-tax directive, which requires member states to exchange information. And last year more than 80 countries agreed on a “common reporting standard” (CRS) set by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. Though not loophole-free, the CRS is “potentially a giant step forward”, says the Tax Justice Network, a campaign group.
Read the story in The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21642184-countries-share-more-information-opportunities-squirrel-away-cash-abroad-will
The rich and tax-shy already have fewer places to hide. America’s Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA), passed in 2010, forces thousands of foreign financial institutions to report American clients’ balances to its tax authority, the IRS, or face stiff penalties. The European Union is strengthening its savings-tax directive, which requires member states to exchange information. And last year more than 80 countries agreed on a “common reporting standard” (CRS) set by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. Though not loophole-free, the CRS is “potentially a giant step forward”, says the Tax Justice Network, a campaign group.
Read the story in The Economist. http://www.economist.com/news/international/21642184-countries-share-more-information-opportunities-squirrel-away-cash-abroad-will