Issue date: 
Thursday, 20 September 2018
Version note: 

Prepared by Inland Revenue and the Treasury for the Tax Working Group and dated 20 July 2018.

Other papers from this meeting: Meeting 14: 19 July 2018.

Other papers on this theme: Tax Administration.

This background paper is for the Group’s information. It:

• discusses the application of the tax secrecy rules in the Tax Administration Act 1994 and how they affect Inland Revenue’s ability to release information;
• includes information about the Government’s proposed changes to narrow the ambit of the tax secrecy rule, shifting the emphasis from preventing the disclosure of information that Inland Revenue holds to preventing the disclosure of information that relates to taxpayers and their affairs, which will enable Inland Revenue to release more information;
• notes a number of different tax transparency measures and approaches taken in comparable and non-comparable tax administrations like Australia, the United Kingdom, Finland, Norway and Sweden;
• notes recent work that considered there should not be a requirement for multinationals to publicise their country-by-country reports; and
• acknowledges submissions made to the Group on the topic of tax transparency.

Last updated: 
Monday, 17 September 2018