Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD congratulated the newly elected President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, for taking a bold first step in his economic reform agenda by substantially cutting fuel subsidies.

The Colombian economy has done remarkably well over the last decade, consistently ranking among the fastest-growing countries in Latin America, but a comprehensive tax reform that promotes investment and diversifies the economy is now needed to put the country on a path toward stronger, sustainable and inclusive growth, according to the latest OECD Economic Survey of Colombia.

Third Annual Conference on the theme of "Fiscal Policies and the Green Economy Transition: Generating Knowledge – Creating Impact" held at the University of Venice from 29 through 30 January 2015. The press release is available.

The agreed mandate authorises the formation of an ad-hoc negotiating group, open to participation from all states. The group will be hosted by the OECD and will hold its first meeting by July 2015, with an aim to conclude drafting by 31 December 2016.

The Slovak Republic was among the fastest growing OECD economies in the last decade. It is broadly recognised that the 2004 tax reform contributed to this success. Ten years after this fundamental reform, however, the time has come to re-evaluate some of the key characteristics of the Slovak tax system.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published today new peer review reports for the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan and Morocco.

Work on the development of the Multilateral‎ Instrument to implement the tax treaty-related Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Action Plan began on 27 May 2015 in Paris. As per the OECD/G20 mandate, the ad hoc Group that will complete the work under Action 15 has been established, with over 80 countries participating.

El Salvador signed today the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, becoming the 86th signatory to the most comprehensive instrument for boosting international co-operation against offshore tax evasion.

The OECD’s Annual Meeting at Ministerial Level reinforced member governments’ support across a broad range of key OECD work.

In a boost for international efforts to strengthen co-operation against offshore tax evasion, seven new countries have joined the agreement to exchange information automatically under the OECD/G20 standard.

Pushing forward efforts to boost transparency in international tax matters, the OECD today released a package of measures for the implementation of a new Country-by-Country Reporting plan developed under the OECD/G20 BEPS Project.

Taxpayer education is the bridge linking tax administration and citizens and a key tool to transform tax culture. Covering innovative strategies in 28 countries, this publication offers ideas and inspiration for taxpayer education, literacy and outreach. The presentation ceremony, which took place in Bolivia, was attended by representatives of EuropeAid, EUROsociAL, Bolivia's National Tax Service and the OECD.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes published new peer review reports today for 12 countries or jurisdictions, moving further ahead with its goal to implement global standards on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

Tax administrations continue to face the challenges of improving their performance while reducing costs, decreasing compliance burdens for taxpayers tackling non-compliance. Improving taxpayer services, while making non-compliance harder, is helping revenue bodies increase their efficiency and allowing governments to finance important programmes that will further benefit their citizens.

Vast amounts are lost to illicit financial flows, including tax evasion, money laundering, bribery and corruption. These crimes threaten the strategic, political and economic interests of both developed and developing countries. In a world of limited resources and increasing complexity, it is essential for government authorities to work closely together in a “whole of government” approach to best address these challenges.

Healthcare costs are rising so fast in advanced economies that they will become unaffordable by mid-century without reforms, according to a new OECD report.

This event will review progress on tax and development made in 2015, including in relation to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the Financing for Development Conference, the Addis Tax Initiative, the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project, Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and Tax Inspectors Without Borders (TIWB).

The OECD presented today the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules to be discussed by G20 Finance Ministers at their meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

G20 finance ministers endorsed the final package of measures for a comprehensive, coherent and co-ordinated reform of the international tax rules during a meeting on 8 October, in Lima, Peru.

Keeping tax transparency high on the agenda of Governments and taking steps to ensure a worldwide level playing field will top the agenda during the 8th meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, in Bridgetown, Barbados on 29-30 October 2015.

Major implementation milestones are being met by members of the world’s leading forum on tax transparency as the international community continues to move ahead towards greater tax transparency. The imminent shift to the automatic exchange of information will send a strong warning to tax evaders.

In-depth discussions took place this week as the international community continues to make progress on the international tax agenda. Officials from more than 100 countries drawing from tax authorities, ministries of finance, development agencies, as well as regional and international organisations, business and civil society came together in a series of meetings hosted by the OECD.

Governments have taken an important step towards ensuring that consumption taxes on cross-border transactions are effectively paid in the jurisdiction where products are consumed, while minimizing the risks that uncoordinated tax rules distort international trade.

On 11-12 November 2015, the first Asia-Pacific Technical Meeting on BEPS discussed the outcomes of the BEPS project, and the challenges countries face in the region in implementing BEPS, and explored how countries in the region can engage in the implementation, on-going development and monitoring of the measures adopted, on an equal footing.

Israel signed today the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, making it the 91st jurisdiction to join the world’s leading instrument for boosting transparency and combating offshore tax evasion.

On 17 December 2015 Greenland signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to exchange in 2017.

Malaysia today signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement‎, re-confirming its commitment to implement automatic exchange of financial account information in time to commence exchanges in 2018.

As part of continuing efforts to boost transparency by multinational enterprises (MNEs), 31 countries signed today the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country reports. The signing ceremony marks an important milestone towards implementation of the OECD/G20 BEPS Project and a significant increase in cross-border cooperation on tax matters.

The OECD today agreed a new framework that would allow all interested countries and jurisdictions to join in efforts to update international tax rules for the 21st Century. The proposal for broadening participation in the OECD/G20 Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project will be presented to G20 Finance Ministers at their next meeting on 26-27 February in Shanghai, China.

On 22-23 February 2016, a regional network meeting on the implementation of the BEPS package was held in Dakar (Senegal), by the OECD in partnership with the CREDAF (Centre de Rencontres et d'Etudes des Dirigeants des Administrations Fiscales).

The world’s leading forum on tax transparency published 10 new peer review reports today, pointing to ever-increasing compliance with the internationally-recognised standards to curb tax evasion through the exchange of information.

In a continued effort to boost transparency in international tax matters, the OECD has today released its standardised electronic format for the exchange of Country-by-Country (CbC) Reports between jurisdictions – the CbC XML Schema – as well as the related User Guide.

The role of tax administrations in implementing the OECD/G20 work on the international tax agenda will be the focus of the 10th Plenary meeting of the OECD Forum on Tax Administration (FTA) to be held in Beijing, People's Republic of China, on 11-13 May 2016.

The OECD and the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes announced today that Bahrain, Lebanon, Nauru, Panama and Vanuatu have now committed to share financial account information automatically with other countries.

Delivering on the OECD/G20 international tax agenda, through implementation of the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) Project and the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exchange of financial account information, took centre stage when Heads of Tax Administration met on 11-13 May in Beijing, China.

Mr Jefferson VanderWolk has been appointed Head of the Tax Treaty, Transfer Pricing & Financial Transactions Division in the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration. He will take up his duties in early July 2016.

On 23 May 2016, the OECD Council approved the amendments to the Transfer Pricing Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and Tax Administrations ("Transfer Pricing Guidelines"), as set out in the 2015 BEPS Report on Actions 8-10 "Aligning Transfer Pricing Outcomes with Value Creation" and the 2015 BEPS Report on Action 13 "Transfer Pricing Documentation and Country-by-Country Reporting".

Paraguay has joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes as its 134th member.

The four organisations, working jointly as the members of the new Platform for Collaboration on Tax have developed a series of recommendations and enabling actions which are laid out in this draft summary document. The Platform organisations seek comments from interested stakeholders on these recommendations by 8 July 2016.

On 31 May 2016, public comments were invited on technical issues identified in a Request for Input related to the development of a multilateral instrument to implement the tax-treaty related BEPS measures. This document compiles the comments received in response to that request for input.

Interested parties are invited to review the conforming changes to Chapter IX of the Transfer Pricing Guidelines, "Transfer Pricing Aspects of Business Restructurings."

The OECD has today released its standardised IT-format for providing structured feedback on exchanged Common Reporting Standard information – the CRS Status Message XML Schema – as well as the related User Guide.

The OECD welcomes Panama’s decision to sign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, which was formally communicated to the OECD in a letter from its Vice President and announced publicly on Friday 15 July 2016.

G20 Finance Ministers, in their communique of February 2016, called upon the IMF, OECD, UN and World Bank Group to “recommend mechanisms to help ensure effective implementation of technical assistance programmes, and recommend how countries can contribute funding for tax projects and direct technical assistance, and report back with recommendations” at their July meeting.

On 4 July 2016, interested parties were invited to review the conforming amendments to Chapter IX of the OECD Transfer Pricing Guidelines, "Transfer Pricing Aspects of Business Restructurings". The OECD is grateful to the commentators for their input and now publishes the comments received.

In a ceremony at OECD Headquarters in Paris today, Burkina Faso, Malaysia, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Samoa signed the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, bringing the number of participating jurisdictions to 103.

Fiscal incentives, including tax policies, should be directed at specific barriers, impediments or synergies to facilitate the desired level of investment in R&D and innovations. Without careful design, policies can have unintended consequences such as favouring incumbent firms, encouraging small firms to undertake less efficient activities, or creating arbitrage and rent-seeking activity.

While fiscal consolidation was the key driver of tax reforms in the years+33 following the global economic crisis, the main emphasis of recent tax reforms has shifted back to tax measures aimed at boosting economic growth, according to a new OECD report.

57 delegates from 10 countries and 8 organisations gathered in Montevideo for the 1st regional meeting of the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit shifting (BEPS) after its launch in Kyoto on 29 June-1st July 2016.

Current carbon prices are falling short of the levels needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving climate change, but even moderate price increases could have a significant impact, according to new OECD research.