International information exchange over the last ten years has been an “unprecedented success” in the fight against tax evasion according the OECD’s Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information (Global Forum).

The next big challenge however is to ensure that beneficial ownership registers are set up across the world.

Exchange successes

Just one exchange of information request led to the recovery nearly €7.5 billion of uncaptured tax revenue according to a report released alongside the Global Forum’s November meetings in Paris.

Additional tax revenue amounting to €100 billion has been identified since 2009.

Global Forum credited

The OECD has said the Global Forum can be credited for the implementation of international standards that have “prompted a tidal shift in exchange of information for tax purposes.”

According to the OECD, the use of bilateral tax information exchange agreements has enabled more than 250,000 information requests during the past decade since the Global Forum was established.

Beneficial ownership

Now it is time to move on to focus on developing beneficial ownership registers according to Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.

Beneficial ownership is “one of the new frontiers, the big challenges ahead” he told delegates at the Global Forum’s Paris meetings that were attended by more than 386 delegates, including 64 ministers, from more than 142 jurisdictions.

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