The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

In today's globalized economy, mutual assistance in tax matters and in particular effective exchange of information, are essential for countries to maintain sovereignty over the application and enforcement of their tax laws and to ensure the correct application of tax conventions. While taxpayers can operate relatively unconstrained by national borders, tax authorities must respect these borders in carrying out their functions. Mutual assistance provisions offer them a legal framework for cooperating across borders without violating the sovereignty of other countries or the rights of taxpayers. In the late 1980s, the OECD and the Council of Europe jointly developed a Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters. The Convention, which was opened for signature on 25 January 1988, entered into force in 1995, and interest is growing, with almost half of the countries that have signed the Convention doing so in the last five years. This reflects the growing importance of exchange of information and other forms of cooperation between tax administrations in an increasingly borderless business and financial world. This edition includes the text of the convention as well as commentaries.--Publisher's description.  Read more...