The Tax Times: J5 - More Tax Date Exchanged in the Last 2 Yrs Than Previous 10 Yrs

Monday, July 13, 2020

J5 - More Tax Date Exchanged in the Last 2 Yrs Than Previous 10 Yrs

On February 19, 2020 we posted J5 Tax Chiefs Closing The Net On Global Tax Evasion!, Where we discussed that leaders from five international tax organizations came together in Sydney, Australia, during the week of February 17, 2020 to review the J5’s progress in their fight against transnational tax crime and set priorities for the year ahead.

Now the J5 reflects on two-years pursuing global tax cheats. The J5 includes the Australian Taxation Office (ATO, the Canadian Revenue Agency (CRA), the Dutch Fiscal Information and Investigation Service (FIOD), Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) from the UK and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) from the US.

During The Two Years Since The J5’s Inception, Hundreds Of Data Exchanges Between J5 Partner Agencies Have Occurred

With More Data Being Exchanged In The Past Year Than The Previous 10 Years Combined.

Since the inception of the organization, two J5 countries have hosted events known as “Challenges” aimed at developing operational collaboration.

FIOD hosted the first J5 “Challenge” in Utrecht in 2018 and brought together leading data scientists, technology experts and investigators from all J5 countries in a coordinated push to track down those who make a living out of facilitating and enabling international tax crime.

The event identified, developed, and tested tools, platforms, techniques, and methods that contribute to the mission of the J5 focusing on identifying professional enablers facilitating offshore tax fraud.

The following year, the U.S. hosted a second “Challenge” in Los Angeles and brought together investigators, cryptocurrency experts and data scientists in a coordinated push to track down individuals perpetrating tax crimes around the world.

Last week, a Romanian man was arrested in Germany and admitted to conspiring to engage in wire fraud and offering and selling unregistered securities in connection with his role in the BitClub Network, a cryptocurrency mining scheme worth at least $722 million. This plea was the first for a case under the J5 umbrella and stemmed from collaboration with the Netherlands during the “Challenge” in Los Angeles in 2019.

In addition to the group’s work with enablers and virtual currency, the J5 also focused on platforms that enable each country to share information in a more organized manner.

FCInet is one such platform that each country has invested in to further that goal.
FCInet is a decentralized virtual computer network that enables agencies to compare, analyse and exchange data anonymously.
It helps users to obtain the right information in real-time and enables agencies from different jurisdictions to work together while respecting each other’s local autonomy.
Organizations can jointly connect information, without needing to surrender data or control to a central database. FCInet doesn’t collect data, rather it connects data.

The Introduction Of Automatic Exchange of
Financial Information Between Countries,
Registers of Beneficial Ownership, Information

From Worldwide Data Leaks And Improved Tax Enforcement Had Made Hiding Wealth Offshore Increasingly Difficult.

Experts from the J5 countries have seen indications that tax offenders are embracing ever more complex methods to conceal their wrongdoings, creating multiple mechanisms and structures that are split across jurisdictions, taking advantage of those areas that offer secrecy and regulatory benefits. With this information, the J5 finds itself continuously adapting to the latest criminal methods and changing behaviors to prioritize the collective operational activity to tackle this dynamic threat picture.

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