Vietnam, OECD sign multilateral treaty for tax cooperation
VOV.VN - The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and Vietnam on March 22 signed the world’s most wide-reaching international treaty for multilateral tax cooperation, the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC), bringing the total number of jurisdictions involved in the convention to 147.
The signing is set to pave the way for the nation to engage in the exchange of information with 146 other jurisdictions, including all major financial centres. These exchange relationships will be added to over 8,000 exchange relationships that are already in place under the terms of the convention.
Through the signing, the country joins in international efforts towards greater tax co-operation and exchange of information, thereby further enhancing the reach of the convention in Asia.
The convention also enables the jurisdictions to engage in a wide range of mutual assistance in tax matters, such as exchange of request information, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations, and assistance in tax collection. It therefore guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers' rights.
It serves as the primary instrument for the swift implementation of the Standard for the Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (Common Reporting Standard - CRS).
The CRS, which was developed by the OECD and G20 countries, enables more than 110 jurisdictions to automatically exchange offshore financial account information.
Beyond the exchange of information on request and the automatic exchange according to the standard, the convention also serves a powerful tool in the fight against illicit financial flows and represents a key instrument in terms of the implementation of the transparency standards within the work of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS).
Yoshiki Takeuchi, deputy secretary-general of the OECD, welcomed Vietnamese participation in the MAAC, saying that it shows the country’s strong determination to prevent tax evasion abroad, move towards tax transparency, and deal with illegal financial flows.
According to information given by Takeuchi, the country’s decision, made following its decision to join the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in December, 2019, demonstrates Vietnamese commitment to global tax transparency.
Dang Ngoc Minh, deputy general director of the General Department of Taxation, said that the nation will move to accelerate the building of information infrastructure to exchange and exploit information from other nations, especially information of foreigners and transnational corporations.
The OECD currently has 38 member countries, most of which are among the most developed economies in the world. The organisation is currently headquartered in Paris, France.