TAX NEWS - January 2010

Canada tax: Working Group on Tax Havens

On 5 January 2010, the Minister of National Revenue of Canada began discussions with his counterparts from Germany, France and the U.K., with a view towards working together as members of the Seven Country Working Group on Tax Havens to challenge what are perceived to be aggressive international tax planning schemes.

Additionally, on 7 January, the Minister met with Jeffrey Owens, the director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration of the OECD, after which he announced that Canada has volunteered to be among the first countries to participate in a tax information exchange peer review process as part of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information. The purpose of the peer review is to ensure that information exchange provisions in tax treaties and tax information exchange agreements are effectively implemented by the parties to these agreements.