Financial Transparency Coalition

Finance ministers meet (sic) in Berlin on Tuesday 23rd June to review the international crackdown on tax havens. The meeting was organised by the French and German finance ministries and was also attended by Hans-Rudolf Merz, Swiss finance minister. Interestingly, this meeting has been the occasion for the UK to announce its support for Country by Country reporting in order to fight aggressive tax avoidance, informs recent article in the Financial Times.

Country-by-Country Reporting Noticeably Absent; Disclosure of Beneficial Ownership Endorsed

The finance ministers from 19 OECD nations released a "Summary of Conclusions" as the result of their meeting in Berlin today. While afirming previous committments - encouraging the use of "defensive measures" to be used against Tax havens, and calling for the disclosure of beneficial ownership of all companies, foundations, and trusts - the statement stops far short of calling for country-by-country reporting of profits by multinational corporations. Additionally, the countries remain committed to the OECD standard on information exchange - a standard which we...

At the 23 June meeting in Berlin, ministers of 19 countries reviewed the progress that has been made with respect to the implementation of the OECD standard on transparency and exchange of information in tax matters since their last meeting held on 21 October 2008 in Paris.

At a meeting in Berlin on Tuesday, the OECD finance ministers agreed to step up the fight against tax evasion, focusing on countries such as Switzerland, Liechtenstein and Luxembourg.