Prime Minister David Cameron has heralded a 'huge step-change in international tax agreements' as a result of the G8 summit which ended yesterday.
The G8 leaders' final communique announced that they will move to establish the automatic exchange of information between tax authorities as the new global standard and will work with the OECD to develop a model for this.
The G8 leaders stated their support for the OECD's work to tackle tax avoidance by multinational companies, and announced that they will draw up a template for global corporations to report to tax authorities where they make their profits and pay taxes around the world.
The statement said this will give governments a new tool against tax avoidance by multinationals and will be particularly helpful to the governments of developing countries. The G8 is to provide support to developing countries to collect the tax they are owed.
The government announced that the Department for International Development (DfID) will fund a programme of international tax seminars where HMRC tax experts will share their experience and expertise on negotiating information exchange agreements with counterparts in developing countries and support them in joining in the multilateral convention on the sharing of tax information.
The G8 also agreed to publish action plans to require companies to obtain and hold information on who really owns and controls them, and ensure this information is available to tax authorities and law enforcement, including through central registries.
The Isle of Man has published its action plan which includes measures to co-operate with an external assessment of the Island's compliance with all relevant international standards in the legal, financial and law enforcement sectors, plus plans to conduct a national assessment of money laundering and terrorist financing risks.
The Isle of Man administration says it will also be reviewing its existing provisions on beneficial ownership and consider whether the introduction of a centralised registry would improve transparency.
Chief Minister Allan Bell said: 'The Isle of Man welcomes the focus on developing global standards in transparency to create a level playing field across the world, and has been closely monitoring events at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland. We have led the way in respect of tax cooperation for the past 15 years and this action plan further demonstrates our commitment to tackling the global problem of tax evasion.'
