A First Look to the Co-operative Tax Compliance Model

Study of the Work of the OECD and Major International Experiences

Abstract

It has been more than a decade since the OCDE, on the basis of the international experience of some countries, laid the foundations for implementing a new model of relationship between the tax administration and taxpayers aimed to achieve a higher level of tax compliance by way of an improved relational framework (responsive approach). The idea was moving from the “traditional model”, based primarily on deterrence and punishment through tax audits and the imposition of tax penalties, to a more sophisticated and preventive model which addresses the causes rather than the symptoms of tax non-compliance, emerging the concept of “enhanced relationship” (now renamed by the OECD itself as “co-operative compliance”). This article is aimed to present its defining elements as well as some cooperative compliance programs implemented by different national tax administrations in order to identify the strengths and weaknesses of this new model of tax compliance in the context of the current process of reformulation of the international tax system that is being developed on a global scale within the OECD / G20 BEPS project.