In order to strengthen enforcement efforts in the fight against persons who commit international tax offences and money laundering, tax law enforcement authorities with five countries – United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and the Netherlands – have gathered to form Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, in short J[5].
Pulse to form J[5] was a response to a call for action from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to make countries do more to address tax offences. J[5] cooperate with OECD and other governments as well as with organisations from third the sector, where appropriate.
The success, new approaches and results of these joint actions will be made available to the global tax enforcement community. To members of J[5] include: tax crime experts and senior officials of the U.S.
Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), Her Majesty's Revenue Office (HMRC) in the UK, the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and the Australian Tax Office (ATO), Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) and the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD).
Pulse to form J[5] was a response to a call for action from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to make countries do more to address tax offences. J[5] cooperate with OECD and other governments
„We are convinced that offshoring and financial instruments used to commit tax offences and money laundering are harmful to the economic, fiscal and social interests of our countries," stated the members of the group in a statement. – We will cooperate to investigate those who allow international tax crime and money laundering, and those who use it. We will also work together internationally to reduce the growing threat to tax administrations posed by cryptocurrency and cybercrime and to maximise the use of data and technology to protect state interests."
In the Joint Communication of the J Members[5], Don Fort, head of the U.S. IRS-CI, said: “We cannot continue in the same way as in the past, hiding our information from the rest of the world, while organized tax offenders manipulate the system and exploit gaps in personal security benefits. J[5] aims to break down these walls and build individual best practices. It will become an operational group that thinks forward-thinking and can put pressure on global criminals in a way that we cannot achieve alone."
Fort's comments were reinforced by Simon York, director of the British HMRC fraud investigation service. "The tax offences and money laundering are becoming increasingly global and sophisticated, so it is important that we continue to work together with international partners. Creating J[5] shows our commitment to this fight."
Forbes magazine reported that the group would start by focusing on operational aspects of the fight against financial crime, including sharing best practices and intelligence leads, as well as joint investigation. The group will also use new methods to track the cryptocurrency used to commit a crime. Finally, the group will put in place appropriate practices to ensure that, in the event of a breach of new data or the issue of relevant documents, a structure is already in place to address this problem.
During another teleconference with journalists, Fort said that he and his colleagues eagerly await the release of assets in investigations. At the same time, however, he admitted that laws and privacy protection differ from country to country and in some cases may prove difficult to reconcile.
Author:
Katarzyna Kołbuś - Editor leading RB Magazine. From Over 10 years related to industry press, including the Financial Gazette and portal ipip.com.pl, which is devoted to finance, taxation, law, politics and the economy. She graduated from Polish philology at the UMCS and the linguistic text editing at the University of Warsaw