Brunei has become the 113rd signatory to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, signing the pact at the OECD headquarters on September 12.
The Convention is touted by the OECD as "the most powerful instrument for international tax cooperation." It provides for all forms of administrative assistance in tax matters: exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examinations, and assistance in tax collection. It guarantees extensive safeguards for the protection of taxpayers' rights.
Welcoming the signing, the OECD said: "The Convention's impact grows with each new signatory; it also serves as the premier instrument for implementing the Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters developed by the OECD and G20 countries. The Convention will enable Brunei Darussalam to fulfil [its] commitment to begin the first of such exchanges by 2018."
"The Convention can also be used to swiftly implement the transparency measures of the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project such as the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports under Action 13 as well as the sharing of rulings under Action 5 of the BEPS Project," the OECD noted.
