OREANDA-NEWS. November 07, 2014. Majilis approved a draft law "On ratification of the convention on mutual administrative assistance in tax matters."

"Currently, Kazakhstan is exchanging tax information with foreign countries on the basis of 46 conventions on avoidance of double taxation and 6 agreements on exchange of information. For example, Kazakhstan sent 175 requests in 2013, and 182 requests came from the tax authorities of foreign countries.

At the same time, the capabilities of these conventions and agreements are limited, they are applied only to corporate and individual income, and exchange of information is carried out only in writing. This significantly slows down the process. Strasbourg Convention is aimed at improving the efficiency of practice of tax information exchange between the tax authorities of the states that have joined the Convention," Finance Minister of Kazakhstan Bakhyt Sultanov said presenting the bill.

According to him, the mechanisms provided by the Convention, have an advantage over other similar convention tools.

Firstly, the Strasbourg Convention enables the information exchange by all types of taxes, as well as any information relating to the taxpayers in the countries that have joined the Convention.

Secondly, the methods of obtaining the desired information are much easier. As part of the convention, it is possible to automatically receive information on the requests sent by other means, rather than in writing.

Thirdly, the Convention provides for mutual obligations of the member states for assistance in the collection of taxes on their territory.

Fourthly, the Convention creates a legal basis for simultaneous tax audits on the territory of the countries concerned. Kazakh experts can participate in tax audits in other countries party to the Convention.

The Minister noted that the Convention has 66 states and 16 offshore jurisdictions.

Convention was concluded in Strasbourg on 23 January 1988. It was signed byAmbassadorof Kazakhstan to France on behalf of the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on December 23, 2013.