Beyond the development of international standards on tax transparency, the OECD also plays an important role in defining best practices for promoting tax compliance and enhanced tax transparency that interested jurisdictions may adopt. In recent years, the OECD has delivered Model Rules for Reporting by Digital Platforms on transactions for services and goods they facilitate and has released model Mandatory Disclosure Rules for CRS Avoidance Arrangement and Opaque Offshore Structures.

In addition, the OECD has supported tax administrations interested in putting in place effective voluntary disclosure initiatives. When appropriately designed, these programmes can benefit everyone involved – taxpayers making the disclosure, compliant taxpayers and the government. It is estimated that jurisdictions around the world have identified EUR 107 billion in additional revenue (tax, interest, penalties) as a result of voluntary compliance.

The OECD has been instrumental in developing effective legal mechanisms under which exchanges can take place. The multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters is the most comprehensive instrument facilitating international co-operation of tax authorities to tackle tax evasion and avoidance. It provides for a full range of cross-border tax assistance, including tax information exchange, as well as joint audits and recovery of foreign tax liabilities. Today, close to 150 jurisdictions participate in the Convention. 

Tax information exchange can also take place under bilateral arrangements, such as tax treaties based on the OECD Model Tax Convention (Article 26), or the OECD’s Model Tax Information Exchange Agreement (Model TIEA), which was first developed in 2002.

In addition to the Convention, jurisdictions engaging in AEOI also require mutual legal agreements on the procedural mechanisms for that exchange. For that purpose, the OECD developed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the Common Reporting Standard, Country-by-Country Reporting, the Mandatory Disclosure Rules for CRS Avoidance Arrangements and Opaque Offshore Structure, the Model Rules for Reporting by Digital Platforms, and most recently, the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework.