This year’s IOTA Forum meeting on the Use of Data from Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) was held digitally on 26th-27th October 2021 and welcomed 158 registered participants from 30 IOTA member countries, as well as speakers from partner organisations and business, such as the OECD and NatWest Bank Group respectively.
The Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), in particular with respect to the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), provides jurisdictions with a large amount of information on financial accounts held abroad by their resident taxpayers. 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. The overall purpose of the Forum is to support the development of effective ways to access and use CRS data within IOTA member countries.
The event was delivered as a combination of plenary sessions, Q&A sessions, and a group discussion. More precisely, during the first day of the event the audience could hear from speakers about the following topics:
- Update on Recent AEOI Developments by Radhanath Housden (Global Forum, OECD)
- Facilitating the compliance of Financial Institutions (FIs) by Elma Brankovic Hadziosmanovic, Jessica Vennberg and Josephine Jähkel Whitlock (Swedish Tax Agency)
- Improving the quality of CRS data by Mike Pocock (HM Revenue & Customs)
- Complying with CRS Requirements for Financial Institutions – the FI Perspective by Paul Worlock (NatWest Bank Group)
- Compliance of Financial Institutions: ensuring quality data by Safarali Javadov (State Tax Service under the Ministry of Economy of the Republic of Azerbaijan)
- CRS due diligence compliance monitoring by Rafael Cabeza Chevron (Spanish Tax Agency - AEAT)
- AEOI: Compliance & Data Quality by Pascal Michel (Swiss Federal Tax Administration)
Following the plenary sessions, nominated participants were split into groups for a Group Discussion Session, where the topics included financial institutions, data quality and tools for FI compliance, as well as use of data for taxpayer compliance.
During the second day of the event, several presentations shed light on aspects of improving quality and use of the CRS data. More specifically, presentations included:
- Improving FI compliance with data analytics by Tomas Sudintas (State Tax Inspectorate under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Lithuania)
- Ensuring high quality data (completeness and accuracy of the data exchanged). Developing or improving methods and tools for the use of CRS data to identify non-compliance by FIs by Elma Brankovic Hadziosmanovic, Jessica Vennberg & Josephine Jähkel Whitlock (Swedish Tax Agency)
- HERMES and CID by Rafael Padilla (Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT))
- An Evaluation of the Impact of Sharing FATCA Data with Taxpayers by Rachel O'Carroll (Office of the Revenue Commissioners, Ireland)
- OECD work on the development of a global tax reporting framework for crypto-assets by Paul Hondius (Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, OECD)
- Crypto-assets by Dion Seymour (HM Revenue & Customs)
The Forum meeting offered particpants the opportunity to gain a greater understanding of country experiences and best practice in improving FI compliance, s applying data analytics/data modelling/machine learning to CRS data, and the effective use of the received CRS data to identify noncompliance of taxpayers.
Presentations, group discussion notes and the full recording of the event are available for registered IOTA website users on the event’s dedicated webpage.