1st Meeting of the IOTA Forum on the Use of Data from Automatic Exchange of Information

Ágnes Kővágó's picture
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On 22-24 November 2017, the 1st Meeting of the IOTA Forum on the Use of Data from Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) took place in Riga, hosted by the State Revenue Service of Latvia. 49 senior tax officials from 26 IOTA member countries, together with representatives from the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, the European Commission (DG TAXUD) and the Association of Latvian Commercial Banks discussed strategies, processes and solutions for the effective use of data from the Automatic Exchange of Information, in particular under the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). 

In 2017, 28 IOTA member tax administrations committed to the first automatic exchanges of information on financial accounts as a part of the implementation of the CRS. All countries participating in the exchange of information under the CRS will have access to standardised information on resident’s financial accounts abroad, as well as on the transactions carried out through such accounts. The new IOTA Forum on AEOI provides a platform for experts of IOTA member tax administrations to work collaboratively towards developing and sharing best practices on the effective use of CRS data. 

Ms Ilze Cīrule, Director General of the State Revenue Service of Latvia, opened the meeting highlighting the importance of the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts for the enhancement of tax transparency and the fight against tax evasion. In her view, in order for AEOI to bring effective value, it is not only important that information on financial accounts is collected and reported; it is equally crucial that receiving jurisdictions use the data in the most effective manner for compliance purposes, in particular in the area of risk management and advanced analytics.

 

The Forum discussed the following topics:

  • Experiences and outcomes from the first exchange of information in the context of implementing the CRS;
  • Receiving the CRS data from reporting Financial Institutions in accordance with local rules and guidance, e.g.  quality of information reported and exchanged;
  • Risk management approaches: the use of the information contained in CRS reports for the establishment of risk-profiles, enhancement of risk detection techniques (manual and automated), and development of new risk typologies;
  • Methods and best practices of applying data analytics: automated selection of audit cases, forecasting of the future behaviour of taxpayers or revenue losses (predictive modelling);
  • IT solutions and tools which are currently used or being introduced for procedural steps in reporting and exchanging of the CRS information.

During the meeting the Mandate of the Forum for 2018-2019 was adopted which aims at developing effective ways to access and use the CRS data.

Further information about the IOTA Forum, including all presentations and the adopted mandate is available here for IOTA members.