On 11 December 2017 OECD published a consultation paper on proposed international rules regarding obligatory disclosure of Common Reporting Standard (“CRS”) avoidance arrangements or offshore structures. The new rules follow up on the Bari Declaration of G7 Finance Ministers, issued on 13 May 2017, which called on the OECD to work on respective anti-avoidance measures.
The proposed rules follow the recommendations enclosed in the OECD BEPS Action 12 Report (“Mandatory Disclosure Rules“). They target scheme promoters and service providers with a material involvement in designing, marketing or implementation of arrangements aiming to circumvent the CRS or the use of nontransparent offshore structures to conceal actual beneficial ownership. The new rules propose that professionals (or taxpayers themselves) be obliged to report respective arrangements and/or structures to their domestic tax authorities (with appropriate penalties for non-compliance). The information obtained by tax authorities would also be sent to the tax administrations in the jurisdiction of tax residence of the taxpayer(s) concerned.
According to the consultation document, the above disclosure rules would assist tax authorities in gathering intelligence on schemes that are being used or marketed to taxpayers in their respective jurisdictions, as well as facilitate spontaneous exchange of information between tax authorities.
The deadline for stakeholder input is 15 January 2018.
