Tunisia commits to start automatic exchange by 2024

January 5, 2022 à 5:54 PM

Tunisia has committed to implement the international Standard for Automatic Exchange of Financial Account Information in Tax Matters (AEOI) by 2024. This commitment makes Tunisia the 121^st Global Forum member to commit to start AEOI by a specific date, and the tenth African country to do so.

“Tunisia’s commitment to the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts is a further essential step in the fight against tax fraud and evasion. The automatic exchange will enable Tunisia to obtain, without prior request, a large amount of information on financial assets held abroad by Tunisian residents,“ said Minister of Finance, Ms Sihem Boughdiri Nemsia. “It thus represents a powerful tool in detecting non-compliance with tax obligations relating to these assets.”

Maria José Garde, Chair of the Global Forum, welcomed Tunisia's commitment to the AEOI Standard and said “the Global Forum will monitor Tunisia’s progress in delivering its commitment to start exchanging automatically by September 2024 and updates will be provided to the Global Forum members and the G20. The Global Forum Secretariat will also assist Tunisia in implementing the Standard and in addressing any challenges that may arise.”

Tunisia will also benefit from the expertise of the Swiss Federal Tax Administration as part of a pilot project aimed at assisting the country in its implementation of AEOI.

The Global Forum is the leading multilateral body mandated to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the standard of transparency and exchange of information on request and the standard of automatic exchange of financial account information. These objectives are achieved through a robust monitoring and peer review process. The Global Forum also runs an extensive capacity-building programme to support its members in implementing the standards and help tax authorities make the best use of cross-border information sharing channels. The support provided by the Secretariat to Tunisia is funded by the European Union.