GERMANY: Fifty-one countries sign OECD pact to tackle tax cheats and agree on transparent tax data

Record ID: 708270

  • Title: GERMANY: Fifty-one countries sign OECD pact to tackle tax cheats and agree on transparent tax data
  • Date: 29th October 2014
  • Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 29, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS EXTERIOR OF FINANCE MINISTRY MINISTERS WAITING FOR START OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (German) GERMAN FINANCE MINISTER, WOLFGANG SCHAEUBLE, SAYING: "We will create more transparency and more fairness for our globalised world in the 21st Century. For a fair international tax competition we need unified international standards. This new standard intends to enable the tax authorities of banks and other service providers to be able to automatically exchange information with the tax authorities in other countries. All signatories have committed themselves to introduce the new standard by 2017. For that, of course, there needs to be considerable investment, also from Germany." MEDIA LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) OECD SECRETARY GENERAL, ANGEL GURRIA, SAYING: "It is of enormous political consequence to recover the trust that the public today has lost, after the crisis during the crises with joblessness, with growing inequality, low growth etc. and this is something of very great consequence." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN MINISTER OF ECONOMY AND FINANCE PIER CARLO, SAYING: "It is the result of tough work, of hard work and quick work actually and it is a positive response on the global level to the global crisis. This is one of the first answers actually and responses to the economic crisis that started a couple of years ago. MEDIA LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) UK FINANCE MINISTER, GEORGE OSBORNE, SAYING: "We expect this will provide tax authorities across the world with the details of billions of pounds of assets held overseas. Under the agreement a wide range of information will be exchanged on off-shore accounts, including account balances, interest payments and beneficial ownership and this will greatly increase the ability of governments to clamp down on tax evaders and to ensure that what they owe, they pay." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) UK FINANCE MINISTER, GEORGE OSBORNE, SAYING: "Tax evasion is not just illegal, it is immoral. You are robbing from your fellow citizens and you should be treated like a common thief and today's agreement strikes a blow on behalf of hard-working tax payers who have to pay higher taxes because their fellow citizens evade their taxes and don't pay their fair share. That is not right. This agreement puts an end to it or begins to put an end to it and therefore I am particularly pleased that Britain has been ale to play a part in this and I very much welcome this agreement." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS
  • Embargoed: 13th November 2014 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Germany
  • Country: Germany
  • Topics: Crime,Economy,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAESSBVKWYTVABI0ZZN4SPJEQRA
  • Story Text: Finance ministers and tax chiefs from 51 countries signed an agreement on Wednesday (October 29) to automatically swap tax information, which Germany's finance minister said heralded the end of tax evasion via secret bank accounts.
    "We will create more transparency and more fairness for our globalised world in the 21st Century. For a fair international tax competition we need unified international standards. This new standard intends to enable the tax authorities of banks and other service providers to be able to automatically exchange information with the tax authorities in other countries. All signatories have committed themselves to introduce the new standard by 2017," Wolfgang Schaeuble told a taxation conference of about 100 countries coordinated by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
    The pledge from so many countries -- Schaeuble said there were 51 signatories from four continents, after one country joined at the last minute -- is the result of years of OECD efforts to facilitate tax authorities' access to bank data.
    OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said the taxation deal should "help to recover the trust the public today has lost" during the global financial crisis and economic downturn.
    "Tax evasion is not just illegal, it is immoral," Britain's finance minister, George Osborne, told a news conference by the ministers. "You are robbing from your fellow citizens and you should be treated like a common thief."
    Schaeuble had told German newspaper Bild before the talks that the OECD agreement was making tax evasion more difficult, adding: "Banking secrecy in its old form has had its day."
    The European Union has enforced the automatic exchange of interest income since 2005 and America's Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has required non-U.S. institutions to provide U.S. tax authorities with data on accounts since 2010.
    Europe's "G5" biggest economies -- Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Britain -- have negotiated with Washington for FATCA to be implemented reciprocally.
    Italian Foreign Minister, Pier Carlo said: "It is the result of tough work, of hard work and quick work actually and it is a positive response on the global level to the global crisis. This is one of the first answers actually and responses to the economic crisis that started a couple of years ago.
    Schaeuble, whose father was a tax advisor, has campaigned for the European Union to close loopholes used by multinational firms to reduce tax bills by exploiting differences in national tax rules. He is now targeting "patent boxes" that permit firms tax breaks on profits generated by patented research.
    But the 72-year-old minister said he had no illusion that the ancient art of tax evasion would be consigned to history.
    "The risk of being found out becomes very high. But as long as people exist, they will not all obey the law. They'll work out new ways to dodge taxes," Schaeuble said.
    But it should end the controversial practice by some German state governments of buying CDs with tax data stolen from Swiss banks, which has led to a rise in the number of people turning themselves in to avoid prosecution for evasion.
    "Hopefully tax CDs will soon no longer be worth it. I always found it problematic to cooperate with 'fences' to enforce the law," said Schaeuble, referring to someone who receives stolen goods.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2014. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register