As 2023 draws to an end, IOTA successfully held one of its last hybrid events from 5-7 December in Budapest, Hungary, under the IOTA 2023 Work Programme Activities. The Forum on the Use of Data from the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) was attended by over 40 tax officials in person and more than 150 online participants from 26 IOTA member countries. Representatives from various international partner organisations such as the OECD, the European Commission DG TAXUD, and the business community including UBS and Standard Chartered Bank also joined the event online.
This activity aimed to create a platform for experts in IOTA member tax administrations to work collaboratively towards developing effective ways to access and use the data under the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), Common Reporting System (CRS), and Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA).
On the first day of the event, participants were given updates on the recent work done by our international partner organisations. The OECD’s Raynald Vial provided information on the progress and future directions for the automatic exchange of information, while the DG TAXUD’s Henrik Paulander shared insights into EU actions for improving data quality and use in the context of direct taxation information exchange. The opening day also included country presentations and featured speakers from IOTA member administrations such as Austria, Finland, and Greece.
- Austria: Operational Risk Management of FIs Reporting Obligations co-presented by Gerhard Wallner & Michael Ahmad;
- Finland: Onsite audit: data processing and sample case selection criteria co-presented by Dinis Kyllönen & Teemu Rämä;
- Greece: Exploiting CRS Data & Framework presented by Petros Fasilis.
The second day showcased presentations from the business community such as UBS, and Standard Chartered Bank along with a couple of interventions from the IOTA membership tax administrations. The discussions revolved around adopted methods and procedures to use CRS data for identifying non-compliance of Financial Institutions (FIs) and domestic Taxpayers. The sessions began with updates from the business community on the challenges they face while implementing AEOI from an FIs point of view. At this stage, the following topics were covered:
- UBS: Operational Challenges in Implementing the Automatic Exchange of Information for Financial Institutions presented by Jenny Turner;
- Standard Chartered Bank: The long Road to Tax Transparency -Insight Views on CRS Implementation and Compliance presented by Corinna Hedtke.
Attendees also got valuable insights into the field of CRS implementation and compliance. Additionally, IOTA country presentations aimed to cover the following topics:
- Romania: Methods used to identify potential non-compliance of Romanian FI co-presented by Elena Isabela Stoica & Ștefan Andrei;
- United Kingdom: Identifying Non-Compliance in UK Financial Institutions presented by Michael Pocock;
- Norway: Use of CRS-data in Norwegian tax returns co-presented by Mette Bredsten Kvalevåg & Diego Miranda Barrios;
- Hungary: AEoI and cross-border assistance in the recovery of tax claims presented by Katalin Kanizsai.
The Forum on AEOI concluded with presentations from IOTA member tax administrations, including Ireland, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. The sessions provided insights into the effects of AEOI on tax compliance in certain IOTA member countries and discussed methodologies, IT tools, and CRS data analytics used by tax administrations.
- Ireland: Maximising the use of Inbound AEOI data presented by Nick Foody;
- South Korea: Methods and IT tools used to identify potential non-compliance of Fls presented by Sungbin Cho;
- United Kingdom: CRS – Wider Behavioural Analysis presented by Dave Curley.
Throughout the event, Forum attendees were actively involved in small discussion sessions to share their views, ideas, and experiences on the methods and/or tools used to address potential taxpayers' non-compliance. At the end of the conference, Steering Group members held an open debate on the biggest challenges they have faced regarding the issues discussed during the Forum. They also discussed the main benefits of the event and shared their views on future steps and proposals for forthcoming IOTA events.
All the materials and presentations are now available online and the event recording will be made uploaded soon to the event’s webpage. This Forum was led by the IOTA International Taxation Expert Alexandros Roukalis and supported by his fellow colleague Oksana Stepanenko.
