Lebanon ‘Largely Compliant’ on tax transparency

The country has been rated as ‘Largely Compliant’ by the OECD-hosted Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, according to the Ministry of Finance (MoF).

Due to the rating, the country will not be included in the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions that will be prepared for the G20 Leaders Summit in July, the MoF said in a statement. The list includes jurisdictions that are non-compliant with tax transparency rules.

The new rating also allowed the country to pass the ‘Fast Track’ review as it has achieved progress in meeting the international tax transparency standards.

The country was among 15 jurisdictions that were evaluated to assess whether recent progress would upgrade their rating if they were to be reviewed again. These jurisdictions previously had a less than satisfactory rating on their peer reviews regarding the standards of the Exchange of Information on Request (EOIR).

Lebanon will be subject to a second review on the application of the EOIR starting from 2018. It will be an in-depth and detailed evaluation, the MoF said.

The country will start applying the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) in September 2018. Its compliance with AEOI rules will be assessed at a later date.