President of Gabon, H.E Ali Bongo Ondimba
Gabon has become the seventh African country to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters since the Convention was opened for signature to all countries in June 2011.
With 66 signatories, the Multilateral Convention is the most powerful international instrument available to fight international tax avoidance and evasion, according to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which developed it jointly with the Council of Europe in 1988.
“Already a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes since October 2012, Gabon’s commitment today plays an important role for regional co-operation in tax matters and demonstrates effective action towards greater exchange of information”, said Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.
“We hope it will act as an encouragement to other African and developing countries to also join this important area of international co-operation in the fight for a fairer and more transparent international tax system”.
The Convention provides for all forms of mutual assistance: exchange on request, spontaneous exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection, while protecting taxpayers’ rights. It also provides the option to undertake automatic exchange, requiring an agreement between the Parties interested in adopting this form of assistance.
The Convention was amended in 2010 to respond to the call of the G20 at its April 2009 London Summit to align it to the international standard on exchange of information on request and to open it to all countries, in particular to ensure that developing countries could benefit from the new more transparent environment. The amended Convention was opened for signature in June 2011.
Since 2009 the G20 has consistently encouraged countries to sign the Convention. At the end of the G20 Leaders Summit in September 2013, a communiqué said: “We call on all countries to join the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in tax Matters without further delay.”
Apart from the 66 signatory countries, the Convention has been extended to over 10 jurisdictions. This represents a wide range of countries including all G20 countries, almost all OECD countries, major financial centres and a growing number of developing countries.
The OECD says the Convention has now taken on increasing importance with the G20’s recent call for automatic exchange of information to become the new international tax standard of exchange of information. The Convention provides the ideal instrument to swiftly implement automatic exchange, the OECD adds.
“The amended Convention facilitates international cooperation for a better operation of national tax laws, while respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers.
“The amended Convention provides for all possible forms of administrative co-operation between states in the assessment and collection of taxes, in particular, with a view to combating tax avoidance and evasion. This cooperation ranges from exchange of information, including automatic exchanges, to the recovery of foreign tax claims,” says the OECD.
Source: GNA
