Malta deposits OECD ratification to end tax secrecy

As a further sign of international efforts to crack down on tax offenders,12 more countries have signed, or committed to sign, the OECD's Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.  In addition, another 6 countries have ratified the Convention.

Malta was among six countries - Belize, Ghana, Greece, Ireland, and  the Netherlands including its Caribbean islands (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) and Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten - that deposited their instruments of ratification.

In addition, Morocco recently signed the Convention. A wide range of countries participated in the signing ceremony at the OECD. Austria, Belize, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Nigeria, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and the Slovak Republic signed the Convention. Burkina Faso, Chile  and  El Salvador signed a letter of intention to sign the Convention. 

"This is a historic moment for the Convention and another winning round in the fight against tax cheats," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría during the signing ceremony. "In the past 2 years more than 60 countries have signed the Convention or stated their intention to do so, marking an important milestone on the road to closer cooperation and more transparency - to making the international system fair to all taxpayers." 

With taxpayers increasingly operating worldwide, tax authorities are moving from bilateral to multilateral cooperation and from exchange of information on request to other forms of co-operation such as automatic exchange of information. 

The Convention provides for spontaneous exchange of information, simultaneous tax examinations and assistance in tax collection. A valuable tool for governments to fight offshore tax evasion, the Convention also ensures compliance with national tax laws and respects the rights of taxpayers by protecting the confidentiality of the information exchanged.

The signatories to the Convention are: Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guatemala, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Saudia Arabia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, United Kingdom, and United States.