OECD model rules would require lawyers and other intermediaries to disclose client schemes to avoid tax reporting

The OECD today issued model disclosure rules requiring lawyers, accountants, financial advisers, banks, and others to inform tax authorities if they put into place a client’s scheme designed to avoid reporting to tax authorities the information required under the OECD/G20 common reporting standard (CRS) or prevent identification of beneficial owners of entities or trusts.

“Time is up for tax evaders and their advisors that still want to game the rules and continue to hide assets offshore,” said Pascal Saint-Amans, Director of the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration.

If adopted by countries, these new rules would deter the design, marketing, and use of schemes to avoid CRS reporting or hide beneficial owners behind opaque offshore structures, Saint Amans said.