Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the world’s 20 largest economies (G20) said they remained committed to a timely, consistent and widespread implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) package at their meeting in Baden-Baden, Germany.
In the official communiqué, they said they welcomed the growing membership of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS and encouraged all relevant and interested countries and jurisdictions to join. They asked the OECD to report back on the progress of BEPS implementation, including on all the four minimum standards, by the Leaders Summit in July 2017.
“We look forward to the first signing round on 7 June 2017 of the Multilateral Convention to Implement Tax Treaty Related Measures to Prevent BEPS and to the first automatic exchange of financial account information under the OECD Common Reporting Standard (CRS), which will commence in September 2017,” it said.
They also called on all jurisdictions to sign and ratify the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and urged all relevant jurisdictions, including financial centres which have not yet done so, to commit without delay to implementing the CRS and to take all necessary actions, including putting in place domestic legislation, in order to start exchanges under the CRS at the latest by September 2018.
“Furthermore, we look forward to the OECD’s preparation of a list by the Leaders Summit in July 2017 of those jurisdictions that have not yet sufficiently progressed towards a satisfactory level of implementation of the agreed international standards on tax transparency. Defensive measures will be considered against listed jurisdictions,” said the communiqué.
“As an important tool in our fight against corruption, tax evasion, terrorist financing and money laundering, we will advance transparency of legal persons and legal arrangements via the effective implementation of international standards and the availability of beneficial ownership information in the domestic and cross-border context. In this regard, we welcome the work by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. We look forward to a progress report from the OECD on its work in complementary tax areas relating to beneficial ownership by the time of the Leaders Summit in July 2017.”