Russia ratifies OECD Convention on administrative assistance in tax matters
The parties to the Convention will render each other administrative assistance in exchanging information, conducting simultaneous tax inspections, recovering tax claims and taking conservancy measures
MOSCOW, November 5. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law on ratifying the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, according to a document posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Wednesday.
The Convention elaborated by the Council of Europe jointly with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) was signed by Russia on November 3, 2011.
Under the document, the countries that are parties to the Convention will render each other administrative assistance in exchanging information, conducting simultaneous tax inspections, recovering tax claims and taking conservancy measures.
Russian Deputy Finance Minister Yury Zubarev said Russia’s accession to the Convention will enable the country to exchange tax information simultaneously with many countries, including jurisdictions, with which Russia currently has no agreements on the avoidance of dual taxation, including offshore tax havens.
The document allows its signatory countries to “apply the Convention to any of their territories,” a move already taken by the UK, Denmark and the Netherlands, which have spread its effect to 13 offshore jurisdictions, the deputy finance minister said.
By now, the Convention has been signed by 64 countries, and for 39 states this document has come into force.
Russia has ratified the Convention with some reservations, excluding regional and local taxes from the list of taxes, on which it can provide assistance to other countries.
Russia reserves the right not to render assistance in the exchange of information on tax claims that existed before the Convention came into force, and also in the enforcement of any tax claim or the recovery of any administrative penalty because the Russian legislation does not stipulate a mechanism for the recovery of cross-border tax claims.
Russia also sets a three-year period for legal assistance in matters subject to prosecution in compliance with the norms of criminal law.
