OECD addresses the misuse of residence/citizenship by investment schemes

 

The OECD has recently published important information regarding the steps taken to address the misuse of residence/citienship by investment schemes on their website.  The OECD is determined to continue to work to ensure the integrity of the OECD/G20 Common Reporting Standard (CRS), this is seen in the revelations of the “Daphne Project” on the Maltese residence and citizenship by investment schemes.  It is of great importance that the CRS is preserved and that any circumvention is detected and addressed.

 

The OECD has taken many steps in the last month to ensure that all taxpayers maintaining financial assets abroad are effectively reported under the CRS.  These steps includes issuing new disclosure rules to inform tax authorities of any schemes put in place for clients to avoid reporting under the CRS; reaching out to individual jurisdictions to make them aware of the risk of abuse of their CBI/RBI schemes and offer assistance in adopting mitigating measures; and establishing a list of high risk schemes in order to further raise awareness amongst stakeholders of the potential of such schemes to undermine the CRS due diligence and reporting requirements.

 

Furthermore, the OECD issued a consultation document, outlining potential situations where the misuse of CBI/RBI schemes poses a high risk to accurate CRS reporting.  The OECD also reached out to the public for input to both to obtain evidence on the misuse of CBI/RBI schemes and on effective ways for preventing such abuse.

 

In May this year, the OECD and other experts of G20 countries will meet in Paris to further elaborate how to effectively address the misuse of CBI/RBI shcemes.

 

To read the original article, for more information and documents regarding the new regulations and consultation documents, please click HERE.

 

Source: OECD