A new single standard for exchanging information on taxpayers, even those who have parked cash in tax havens. This is the main novelty introduced by the agreement signed yesterday in Berlin by the representatives of 51 OECD members, including Italy, Germany, France, Spain and Great Britain.
The exchange will begin in 2017, but will also involve information on current accounts opened at the end of 2015. There is therefore little more than a year left for compliance: "Evaders have two choices - reads the statement released at the end of the summit - or come on, or get caught." In the coming months, other countries of the 123 that have remained outside could also join, thus becoming part of the "early adopters", but in any case the agreement will enter into force for all from 2018.
According to the Minister of the Treasury, Pier Carlo Padoan, the agreement reached represents an example of "international structural reform" and will bring Italy "a further instrument to fight tax evasion", because it "changes international relations and will have an impact on capital movements that return to Italy".
It is a pity that the signatures of two crucial countries are missing: Switzerland and the United States. Angel Gurria, secretary general of the OECD, underlines that the USA “have always been at the forefront in the fight against tax evasion and remain enthusiastic supporters of our efforts. At this moment the internal debate is taking them in a different direction from the one we have taken, but we also know that they are grappling with very specific problems of their system, such as the tax inversion problem whereby American companies merge with foreign companies to inherit its tax treatment abroad. This causes huge amounts of profits to remain parked outside national borders and not reinvested in the country where they would be taxed. It is possible that the United States will come close to our path”.
As for Switzerland, Gurria recalls that "although it hasn't joined", this "doesn't mean it can't do so soon, it being understood that otherwise they will leave the following year. In any case, they have all agreed to provide tax information upon request, including Switzerland."
