PNG APEC 2018 Host taps into common reporting standard fro Tax Transparency

APEC 2018 host Papua New Guinea is seeking endorsement to adopt and implement the Common Reporting Standard (CRS), a new guideline of automatic exchange of information, to address bank secrecy and promote tax transparency in the country.
Commissioner General of PNG Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) Betty Palaso made this statement at the opening of the “Advancing Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) and Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) Priorities in APEC” technical workshop this week.
With this new standard in place, Ms Palaso said tax payers that shift money off shore with the intention of hiding it from revenue authorities will be a thing of the past.
“We recognise that transparency is a key component in our fight against tax evasion and we have committed to exchange of information on request as our standard,” she said.
“This is a significant initiative from PNG’s perspective,” she said. “Our Australian colleagues have agreed to assist us with the necessary steps to take in the implementation process with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).”
Ms Palaso said the successful outcome for such an initiative would take a developing economy like PNG, time, resources, effort and commitment.
Discussions from the series of meetings currently held this week at Airways Hotel in Port Moresby will be captured in a report which will be presented to APEC Finance Ministers during the ministerial meeting in October.
PNG joins 100 other tax jurisdictions under this new standard of automatic exchange of information.