The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) have joined a newly established international alliance to fight transnational tax crime and money-laundering.
The alliance – the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) – includes Authorities from Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Deputy Taxation Commissioner Will Day said members of the J5 group will increase collaboration in information and intelligence and enhance operational capability by piloting new approaches and conducting joint operations.
Mr Day said the group was formed in response to a call to action from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for countries to do more to tackle the enablers of tax crime.
He said successes, new approaches and findings from the joint efforts will be shared with the wider tax enforcement community.
He said that at its first meeting the J5 brought together leading experts in tax and other financial crimes from each of the five member countries.
“Recognising that tax crime crosses international borders, by participating in the J5, the ATO and ACIC can work with like-minded international tax administrations and law enforcement Agency partners to build on our domestic activity and develop strategies to disrupt crime,” Mr Day said.
Executive Director of Intelligence Operations at ACIC, Col Blanch said financial crime occurred on a global scale with its proceeds transferred between jurisdictions.
“This is why we are committed to working with our domestic and international partners to proactively target offshore service providers and cyber-criminals who specialise in targeting the financial sector,” Mr Blanch said.
Minister for Revenue and Financial Services, Kelly O’Dwyer welcomed the development, saying the J5 would effectively disrupt the serious organised criminal syndicates who evade tax, commit tax fraud and launder the proceeds of their crimes.
