Global Forum Secretariat holds its first workshop on establishing and running a functioning exchange of information unit

 

15/10/2021 - A workshop on establishing and running functioning exchange of information (EOI) units was organised by the Global Forum Secretariat on 14-15 October 2021. One hundred sixty-five participants from 30 jurisdictions from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and the Middle East attended the workshop, which was the first of its kind.

The EOI unit is critical for the exchange of information among tax administrations. It manages the daily EOI activity and supports other functions of the tax administration in obtaining and using relevant information from foreign countries. The establishment of a functioning EOI unit is therefore a key point to consider when strengthening tax administrations’ ability to tackle cross-border tax evasion of corporate and individual taxpayers.

The Global Forum Secretariat and the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF) jointly published a toolkit on Establishing and Running an Effective Exchange of Information Function in 2020. The workshop was therefore a further step in providing practical guidance and sharing experiences. Participants discussed the strategy to building an EOI infrastructure, the main steps in establishing and managing the EOI function as well as lessons learnt from Global Forum peer reviews. Expert speakers from India, Malaysia, Norway and Uganda shared their knowledge and practical experience in the setup and management of their respective EOI function. The Secretariat would like to thank them for their support for this event. The ultimate goal of these activities is to unlock the potential of EOI in tackling cross-border tax evasion and other illicit financial flows and ultimately enhance domestic resource mobilisation.

The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request 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 technical assistance programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels.

For more information, please contact gftaxcooperation@oecd.org.