ATO assistant commissioner signs J5 agreement

The heads of tax enforcement from the UK, Australia, Canada, Netherlands and the US came together in London last week for the latest Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5) summit to share intelligence and coordinate efforts on a global level against international tax crime and money laundering.

The London summit, hosted by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), marked four years since the J5 group was established and renewed commitments to build on recent operational successes to find innovative solutions to some of the most complicated tax crime matters facing all five countries, providing global leadership on collaboration between tax authorities.

The week-long summit began with the J5 Challenge, which brings together investigators, subject experts, data scientists and others to analyse a range of data and intelligence, including that from decentralised exchanges, to identify tax evasion.

The event also included the inaugural Global Financial Institution Summit (GFIS) – the start of ambitious talks between the J5 and some of the world’s biggest banks on what more can be done to tackle tax crime together.

This was followed by a public-private partnership event where leaders from both sectors came together to examine key threats to the international tax system.

The summit culminated in a chief’s meeting where the partners discussed emerging threats and agreed on new operational priorities and targets. It follows a string of recent successes for the J5, including 10 individuals charged, following a suspected multimillion-pound investment and impersonation scheme, aimed at defrauding people across the globe.

At the conclusion of the meeting, each chief signed on to a communique that reaffirmed their commitment to the organisation and summarised the progress made throughout the week.

Mr Martin said the week-long summit had been highly productive and highlighted the commitment to working with a public-private partnership model.

“Working together to tackle professional enablers of tax evasion and crime, and associated money laundering, we aim to enhance our systems to better detect and disrupt criminal networks,” Mr Martin said.

“Information sharing across the J5, enhanced with stronger relationships with financial institutions places us at the forefront of disrupting criminal networks that target our public finances, especially when it comes to tackling professional enablers of crime.”