30/06/20

INTERNATIONAL TAX: Governments sharing bank details uncover $11 trln in offshore assets.

As published on uk.reuters.com, Tuesday 30 June, 2020.

PARIS, June 30 (Reuters) - Tax authorities in nearly 100 countries saw 10 trillion euros ($11.2 trillion) in offshore assets come to light last year due to the automatic exchange of details for 84 million bank accounts, the OECD said on Tuesday.

That marked a sharp increase from 2018 when tax authorities began sharing on an annual basis information like balances and transactions on offshore accounts, uncovering 5 trillion euros in assets previously hidden in 47 million accounts.

The Paris-based Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said the increase was due to more countries joining the initiative and a broader range of information was shared.

“The discovery of previously hidden accounts thanks to automatic exchange of information has and will lead to billions in additional tax revenues,” OECD Secretary General Angel Gurria said in a statement.

The 2018 launch of the automatic exchange of account details was the culmination of a two-decade international clampdown on tax evasion that has all but ended bank secrecy in many erstwhile offshore financial centres.