In 2014, the OECD and the G20 approved the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) – common standard of automatic exchange of information on tax matters. At present, over 100 jurisdictions have publicly committed to implement the CRS.
More than a half of those countries have implemented it already. From September 2017 they exchange information in the frames of Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA).
The end of current year is marked by commitment of 39 of the 53 jurisdictions to commence exchanges under the CRS MCAA in 2018, having put the international legal requirements in place.
While the CRS MCAA is a multilateral agreement, exchange relationships for CRS information are bilateral in nature and are activated when both jurisdictions have the domestic framework for CRS exchange in place and have listed each other as intended exchange partners.
On 21.12.2017 OECD declared that a row of jurisdictions performed this procedure, therewith list of countries that will exchange information in 2018 on tax matter in automatic regime considerably increased in comparison with 2017.
A further activation round for jurisdictions committed to a 2018 timeline is scheduled to take place in March