Tax Crimes and Money Laundering

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There are substantial similarities between the techniques used to launder the proceeds of crimes and to commit tax crimes. In May 1998 the G7 Finance Ministers encouraged international action to enhance the capacity of anti-money laundering systems to deal effectively with tax related crimes. The G7 considered that international action in this area would strengthen existing anti-money laundering systems and increase the effectiveness of tax information exchange arrangements. In this regard the OECD's Committee on Fiscal Affairs has established a dialogue with the Financial Action Task Force and continues to examine ways of improving co-operation between tax and anti-money laundering authorities. Joint workshops with tax and anti-money laundering officials have been held allowing experts to share experiences on some of the practices that are common to both tax evasion and money laundering. OECD work on tax crime and money laundering is designed to complement that carried out by FATF.

Our related documents include:

• Money Laundering Awareness Handbook for Tax Examiners and Tax Auditors (Oct 2009)
• Report on Abuse of Charities for Money-Laundering and Tax Evasion 
• Report on Real Estate Sector - Tax Fraud And Money Laundering Vulnerabilities
• Report on Identity Fraud: Tax Evasion and Money Laundering Vulnerabilities

In addition the Committee has produced a survey of country practices on access for tax authorities to information gathered by anti-money laundering authorities, which has recently been updated and sets out the ability of tax officials to obtain information from anti-money laundering authorities at the national level.