The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has urged that countries improve their efforts to detect and disrupt the professional enablers of tax evasion and other financial crimes. The OECD’s new report ‘Ending the Shell Game: Cracking down on the Professionals who enable Tax and White Collar Crimes’ provides some guidance to countries on this matter.
Most professional service providers (lawyers, notaries, accountants, financial institutions, etc.) comply with the laws and help their clients comply too. However, there are few who misuse their specialized knowledge to allow their clients to commit tax fraud. Such enablers are known to help conceal the commission from their clients’ tax frauds and other financial crimes. The OECD report urges countries to strengthen their policies to better address the risks associated with such professional enablers.
These policies must ensure that investigators and prosecutors can identify and prosecute the professional enablers operating in their jurisdiction. Countries must also implement adequate prevention and mitigation procedures via a collaborative effort between supervisory, industry and professional organizations. Moreover, national and international authorities must support and enable information exchange to ensure that cross-border financial crimes are checked.
Source: OECD