FinanceMalta welcomes improvement in Malta’s tax transparency ranking in OECD report

FinanceMalta has welcomed an improvement to Malta’s ranking in a report about its compliance with an international standard of reporting financial and corporate information related to tax transparency.

“FinanceMalta appreciates the huge amount of work which led to this improvement, which required collaboration from a wide range of stakeholders,” said chairman George Vella.

“We also welcome the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) recommendations on ways to continue on this journey.”

The report by the OECD analyses the implementation of the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request in Malta.

During the last period of review, between 1st April 2016 and 31st March 2019, the OECD rate Malta ‘Partially Compliant’ with the standard.

Having undertaken reforms to improve its adherence to reporting requirements, Malta asked the OECD to conduct another review for the period between 1st July 2019 and 30th June 2022.

After analysing the practical implementation of the OECD’s standards with regard to exchange of information requests received and sent during this period, the OECD concluded that Malta is now ‘Largely Compliant’ with the standard.

International counterparts asking Malta for information were “generally satisfied” with the quality of responses provided by Malta, “but highlighted issues on their timeliness and, in some cases, that only partial information could be provided.”

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes is the multilateral framework within which work in the area of tax transparency and exchange of information is carried out by over 160 jurisdictions. It is charged with the in-depth monitoring and peer review of the implementation of the international standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

The report considers Malta’s compliance to the international standard of exchange of information on request, based on three categories: a) the availability of ownership, accounting and banking information; b) access to information by the competent authority; and c) exchanging information.