Asian jurisdictions reap significant rewards from collective efforts to advance tax transparency

24/06/2024 - Launched today from Yerevan, Armenia, by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum), Tax Transparency in Asia 2024 shows how members of its Asia Initiative successfully identified at least EUR 21.8 billion in additional revenue (tax, interest and penalties) since 2009; through the use of exchange of information on request (EOIR) and automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI), and including related voluntary disclosure programmes and offshore tax investigations.

Noting that members of the Asia Initiative do not systematically monitor the impact of exchange of information (EOI) on domestic resource mobilisation, the report details how 13 jurisdictions collected at least EUR 1.8 billion extra tax revenue in 2023 through the use of EOIR (EUR 1.5 billion) and AEOI (EUR 277 million).

"I look forward to pursuing the advancement of the tax transparency agenda and I am confident that our members will continue to engage with us in the fight against tax evasion and other illicit financial flows and the sustainable mobilisation of domestic resources," said Mr Rustam Badasyan, Co-Chair of the Asia Initiative and Chairman of the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia.

Major recent advances set out in the report include:

Through the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC), Asian jurisdictions have entered into more than 3000 EOI bilateral relationships to foster tax co-operation and most of them have an EOI network covering more than 140 jurisdictions.
18 Asian jurisdictions are committed to start automatically exchanging financial account information by 2026, and 15 had already started exchanging by the end of 2023.
13 of the 14 jurisdictions fully reviewed in the second round of EOIR peer reviews received a satisfactory rating (“Compliant” or “Largely compliant”).
6 members of the Asia Initiative (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Indonesia, Japan, Korea and Singapore) are part of the 58 jurisdictions that expressed their intention to implement the Crypto Assets Reporting Framework (CARF) by 2027 or, at the latest, by 2028.

Tax Transparency in Asia 2024 is a key output of the Asia Initiative, a regional programme launched in 2021 and focused on developing tailored solutions to ensure the implementation and use of the global tax transparency standards across Asia and to respond to the specific needs and interests of the region. Its launch is part of the 6^th meeting of the Asia Initiative, jointly organised by the Global Forum Secretariat and the State Revenue Committee of the Republic of Armenia, and to be held in Yerevan on 24-25 June 2024.

"Asian jurisdictions are advancing the tax transparency agenda and reaping its benefits. While the progress achieved are impressive, not all jurisdictions are taking advantage of these advances,” declared Zayda Manatta, Head of the Global Forum Secretariat. “The Global Forum is committed to assist all its members in implementing and benefiting from the international tax transparency standards. I hope we will see more jurisdictions joining the fight against tax evasion in the near future, to ensure the fairness of their tax systems.”

With 171 members, the Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the exchange of information on request standard and the standard of automatic exchange of information. These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels. Its worldwide capacity-building programme is supported by the following development partners:

For more information about the report and the Asia Initiative, please contact Ms Zayda Manatta, Head of the Global Forum Secretariat, zayda.manatta@oecd.org. For interview requests, or to obtain an embargoed copy of the report, please contact Mr Lawrence Speer, Senior Media Officer at the OECD Media Division, lawrence.speer@oecd.org, or Mr Julien Dubuc, Communications Officer at the Global Forum Secretariat, julien.dubuc@oecd.org.