Leaders of tax enforcement authorities from the abovementioned countries have formed a multi-lateral tax enforcement group, Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement (J5), to collaborate in fighting international and transnational tax crimes and money laundering.
Membership of the J5 includes the heads of tax crime and senior officials from the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS CI), Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the U.K., the Australian Criminal Intelligence Commission (ACIC) and Australian Taxation Office (ATO) and the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
The J5 plans to work together to gather and share information and intelligence, as well as conduct operations and build capacity for tax crime enforcement officials. Areas of focus include cybercrime, cryptocurrency, data analytics, and enablers and facilitators of tax crimes. The group was formed in response to a call to action issued by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in November 2017 for countries to crack down on professional facilitators of tax crime. At their initial in the last week of June in Montreal, the J5 assembled some of the leading experts in tax and other financial crimes from each of the five member countries. Together they are developing tactical plans and have identified some opportunities to pursue cyber criminals and enablers of transnational tax crime. They plan to share data, tools and expertise to develop training and skills in cybersecurity within the J5 and with other partners.
The J5 plans to further the effort through the sharing of data and technology, conducting operational activity and taking advantage of collective best practices. Further updates on ongoing J5 initiatives are expected in late 2018