Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters Twentieth Anniversary Edition (eBook)

The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY EDITION



In today’s globalised economy, mutual assistance in tax matters and in particular effective exchange of information, are essential for countries to maintain sovereignty over the application and enforcement of their tax laws and to ensure the correct application of tax conventions. While taxpayers can operate relatively unconstrained by national borders, tax authorities must respect these borders in carrying out their functions. Mutual assistance provisions offer them a legal framework for co-operating across borders without violating the sovereignty of other countries or the rights of taxpayers.



In the late 1980s, the OECD and the Council of Europe jointly developed a Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention, which was opened for signature on 25 January 1988, entered into force in 1995, and interest is growing, with almost half of the countries that have signed the Convention doing so in the last five years. This reflects the growing importance of exchange of information and other forms of co-operation between tax administrations in an increasingly borderless business and financial world.

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This Convention offers tax authorities a legal framework for co-operating across borders without violating the sovereignty of other countries or the rights of taxpayers. Includes the text of the convention and commentaries. The Convention entered into force in 1995, and interest is growing, with almost half of the countries that have signed the Convention doing so in the last five years. This reflects the growing importance of exchange of information and other forms of co-operation between tax administrations in an increasingly borderless business and financial world. ThisTwentieth Anniversary edition includes the text of the convention as well as commentaries.