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The Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Mr. Brian Hayes TD, at a special signing ceremony at the OECD today, signed, on behalf of the Government, the Joint Council of Europe/OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.

The signing of this Convention by Ireland confirms Ireland’s full compliance with international standards in matters of tax transparency, exchange of information and administrative assistance.  Today’s signing enhances the Revenue Commissioners’ capacity to ensure compliance with Irish tax law and, no less importantly, confirms compliance with standards that are crucial to our international reputation and in attracting business opportunities from abroad.

The purpose of the Convention is to promote international co-operation by providing administrative assistance in tax matters to countries that are party to the Convention.

The Convention which covers a wide range of taxes provides for the exchange of information for tax purposes and assistance in the recovery of taxes and service of documents between the Parties to the Convention. For example, it will enable Ireland to exchange information with countries who have joined the Convention but with which Ireland does not currently have a Double Taxation Agreement or a Tax Information Exchange Agreement. It will also enable Ireland to ask countries to assist us in the collection of our tax debts.

The Convention is aligned to the internationally agreed standard on exchange of information for tax purposes which provides that bank secrecy and domestic tax interests should not prevent a country from exchanging information for tax purposes.  It is open for signature by countries that are neither members of the Council of Europe or the OECD.

“Ireland is universally recognised as being fully compliant with both EU and OECD standards in terms of its open, fair and transparent tax system” said Minister of State Hayes and the “signing of this multilateral Convention will only bolster our international reputation in that regard”.

The signing of the Convention represents another important milestone for Ireland coming not long after the publication last January of the Global Forum Peer Review Report on Transparency and Exchange of Information, which found that Ireland was fully compliant under all categories assessed.

Minister Hayes said that this multilateral Convention will “be an important instrument alongside our growing network of Double Taxation Agreements and Tax Information Exchange Agreements in assisting tax authorities in obtaining information relevant to tax enquiries”.

The Government expects to be in a position to ratify the Convention in early 2012 after the appropriate provisions have been enacted in domestic law to enable Ireland to provide the various types of assistance envisaged by the Convention.

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