Austria
IOTA Forum on the Use of Data from the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI)
From November 26 to 28, 2024, in collaboration with the Austrian Tax Administration, IOTA had the pleasure of organising the IOTA Forum on the Use of Data from the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) in Vienna, Austria. This event was one of the final technical activities of the IOTA 2024 Work Programme Calendar. The AEOI Forum was attended by 41 tax officials in person, while over 160 participants joined online from 37 IOTA member tax administrations.
This Forum provided a valuable platform for IOTA member tax officials to collaborate, discuss, and share best practices for effectively accessing and utilising data from the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
During the first day of the event, participants were given an update on the recent work conducted by our international partner organisation, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). OECD's Raynald Vial spoke about milestones achieved and future directions for the automatic exchange of information, including CRS 2.0 and CARF. The agenda also included speakers from IOTA members of Azerbaijan, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, featured country presentations on methods and procedures for utilising CRS data to identify non-compliance of FIs, or taxpayers, and shared practical examples on using inbound and outbound CRS/DAC2 data.
The opening day welcomed speakers from IOTA member administrations such as Azerbaijan, Ireland, Sweden, and the United Kingdom:
- Azerbaijan: Processing CRS Data (outbound) presented by Fikrat Abdullayev;
- United Kingdom: Identify Non-Compliance in UK Financial Institutions presented by Christian Cooling;
- Sweden: Random audits on foreign financial income statements co-presented by Elena Maximez & Maude Hasbi;
- Ireland: Practical example of the usage of inbound CRS/DAC2 & FATCA data in a Compliance Intervention presented by Nick Foody.
The second day provided participants with hands-on practical examples with usage of AEOI data. In that respect, two real case studies were presented by two IOTA tax administrations, Austria and Norway, based on fictional data. Case Study 1 presented a case referring to outbound data (i.e. compliance of FIs), while Case Study 2 has a scope of referring to inbound data (and certain techniques used in that respect, i.e. nudging). At this stage, the following countries shared their case study presentation:
- Austria: Gerhard Wallner;
- Norway: Diego Miranda Barrios.
During group discussions, participants worked together on highlighted issues related to each case and pre-set questions asked, while sharing their experiences, discussing opportunities, and identifying potential challenges associated with the individual case.
The Forum meeting concluded with a presentation on compliance and risk management, delivered by Andrea Stary from the host administration of Austria. At the end of the event, attendees participated in an open debate to share what could be the international developments in AEOI/ CRS field in the next 2-3 years, and what could be the priorities of their tax administrations in that field.
All materials, presentations, and a photo gallery from the event are now available online, and the event recording will be posted soon on the event’s webpage. This Forum was led by IOTA International Taxation Expert Alexandros Roukalis, with support from his colleague Oksana Stepanenko.
