adminPARIS. – China is set to join a group of 50 developed and developing countries in the fight against tax evasion by signing a co-operation agreement at the end of this month, the OECD said yesterday. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said China would sign the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters on August 27.
In doing so, it would participate “in global efforts to combat tax avoidance and evasion by cooperating with other states in the assessment and collection of taxes”.
The convention is a framework for the sharing of banking data and ultimately aims to have banks automatically supply information to a country on the accounts of its nationals. The OECD, based in Paris, groups 34 leading democracies.
China, which is considered by many experts to be heavily affected by tax evasion, has in recent years multiplied its co-operation with the United States on the issue of tackling tax havens but has until now demonstrated little interest in joining multilateral efforts.
Tax evasion and complex avoidance, and in particular tax optimisation by multinational groups, is one of the main themes to be brought up at the September 5-6 G20 summit in Saint Petersburg. – AFP.
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