The Maldives signs the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters

The Maldives is now a signatory to the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC). The signing took place on 11 August 2021, at the ceremony held at OECD Headquarters in Paris.

MAAC was developed by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and has become the leading international treaty for multilateral cooperation in tax matters. The primary objectives of MAAC are to jointly aid the parties to the Convention in tax matters through exchange of information on request, spontaneous exchange, automatic exchange, tax examinations abroad, simultaneous tax examination and assistance in recovery of taxes and facilitation of documents. 

The Convention is also the primary instrument for the implementation of the Common Reporting Standard which enables the jurisdictions to automatically exchange information about offshore financial accounts and for the automatic exchange of Country-by-Country Reports which would give tax authorities a clear view of MNE Groups global allocation of income, easing the tax risk assessment and assurance process.

The countries signatory to the Convention must also agree to adopt the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreements (MCAA).

As of July 2021, 141 jurisdictions are participating.