Let’s Hope the New OECD Guidelines on Money Laundering Will Not Create More Unnecessary Tax Auditing

Abstract:     
The OECD has just released guidelines to tax administrators and other authorities of what look out for in uncovering money laundering transactions. Although the guidelines are useful, many authorities will misapply the recommendations in arriving at conclusions that are not supported by fact, simply because a set of facts appear suspicious. Tact and care should be exercised and remembered that in adversarial systems of law, an accused is only guilty when proven with fact to be guilty, and not by conjecture. The paper sets out the process taxpayers should follow when faced by a ta audit, especially where the audit is triggered by the tax authorities suspicion emanating from the broad parameters set out in the OECD guidelines.

Keywords: OECD, money laundering, tax audit, tax evasion, offshore ceneters, offshore trusts, discretionary trusts, tax

Working Paper Series