Czech Republic Signed Multilateral Declaration Regarding the Exchange of Information

The first deputy prime minister and minister of finance signed a Declaration, by which the Czech republic joined the Multilateral agreement on the automatic exchange of information on the financial accounts. The signing took place at the conclusion of the seventh conference of the Global forum on transparency and exchange of information in tax matters, which was attended by 320 delegates from 101 member countries of the Global forum, fourteen international organizations and twenty-five ministers. The Czech Republic is a member of the informal group of 56 countries, which seeks to early adopt a new global standard for automatic exchange of information on taxes. This would significantly streamline the efforts to fight tax evasion on a global scale. According to a new global standard the tax administrations of the individual states will allow for the exchange of a wide range of information necessary for the correct security tax collection and recovery of tax claims, including information on balances in the account. At the two-day meeting the revised criteria of the exchange of information for tax purposes was adopted, reinforcing the requirement to obtain information about the real owners (beneficial ownership). The participants also agreed to the extension of the mandate of the Global forum for the next five years (i.e. until the end of the year 2020). Impact on investors: New Agreement will increase transperancy.