Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes

Synonyms

Financial Action Task Force (FATF); Financial secrecy; Financial transparency; Government action on financial information; International efforts to control tax evasion; International efforts to eliminate bank secrecy; Tax evasion; Tax losses

Introduction

This entry describes a major initiative of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to eliminate secrecy and increase transparency in financial transactions concerning taxes involving diverse countries.

Description

According to Meinzer (2012, p. 11), in 1989, the OECD established a Financial Action Task Force to begin “work on standards to counter money laundering.” In the following year, the Task Force published a set of 40 recommendations specifying standards and procedures to encourage compliance among its members. “Encourage” is the operative word because there was no enforcement mechanism available, only “naming and shaming” political jurisdictions that failed to comply. Political jurisdictions...