Cooperation with profile regional and international organizations is one of the primary objectives of the State Tax Service aiming to facilitate good relations with other similar foreign institutions in order to use international expertise and best practices in the tax field.
The State Tax Service successfully collaborates as an active member within the following profile regional and international organizations:
Intra-European Organization of Tax Administrations (IOTA)
IOTA was established in 1996 during the 3rd Conference of Tax Administrations of Central and Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, initially being focused on facilitating the exchange of experience and assistance for the modernization of tax administrations in the Central and Eastern Europe, especially within the context of the European Union (EU) enlargement. Upon the accession of several member states to the EU, IOTA, from the assistance offered in the context of modernization, is currently focusing on organizing and ensuring the exchange of experiences and best practices.
The Republic of Moldova joined IOTA in 2004, in accordance with the provisions of Law no. 19-XV of 12.02.2004, being one of the 43 full member tax administrations and 1 associate member.
In 2015, the STS hosted the IOTA Forum on Large Taxpayer Administration, attended by over 50 delegates from 20 IOTA member tax administrations. Over the years as a member of IOTA, the STS uses the IOTA platform to raise the level of knowledge in the field of effective tax administration and participates in various workshops and forums organized by IOTA, taking good practices from member countries and sharing experiences on issues of tax administration both within the meetings and by providing answers to IOTA's technical questionnaires.
OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes
The OECD Global Forum (OECD GF) is currently the most important international platform in the tax field, bringing together 170 countries and jurisdictions, including all G20 countries and financial centers. Transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes means putting an end to bank secrecy and tax evasion through global tax cooperation. The Global Forum is the leading international body working on the implementation of the international tax transparency standards and ensures that these high standards are in place around the world through its monitoring, peer review and capacity-building activities.
The Republic of Moldova was accepted as a member of the organization in November 2016, during the 9th Meeting of the GF on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
The STS, as the competent authority for carrying out the exchange of information for tax purposes, applies the OECD standard on the exchange of information on request (EOIR) and is preparing to meet the requirements of the OECD GF in order to be able to implement the second OECD standard for the automatic exchange of information on financial accounts (AEOI), thus being actively involved in a series of activities in this regard:
- in October 2023, the State Tax Service, at the request of the OECD GF evaluators, organized the second round assessment process of the Republic of Moldova regarding the EOIR standard, with the direct participation of all the public authorities involved: the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Justice, the National Bank of Moldova, the Prevention and Combating of Money Laundering Service, the National Commission of the Financial Market, the Public Services Agency, the Single Central Depository, as well as the Association of Banks from Moldova, the Union of Lawyers from the Republic of Moldova, etc.
- in September 2023, the STS was subjected to the simulated evaluation regarding the progress achieved in the part related to the data security management related to the AEOI standard.
Following the results of the final evaluation planned at a later stage, the STS will receive the agreement of the OECD GF to automatically exchange financial account data with other OECD member jurisdictions, based on the provisions of Law no. 69 regarding the implementation of the provisions of the Multilateral Agreement of the Competent Authorities for the Automatic Exchange of Information on Financial Accounts of 31.03.2023.
Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF)
CEF was established in 2001 by the Slovenian Government with the support of the World Bank and the IMF, which in 2015 obtained the status of an international organization after 14 years of success as a regional institution.
The organization, as a leader in training, supports the development of the capacities of public officials and their institutions in South-Eastern Europe through learning and knowledge exchange.
The Republic of Moldova became a member of the CEF in 2003 and the STS still benefits from the necessary expertise, assistance and training in the field of tax administration.
The Coordinating Council of the Heads of Tax Services of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CCHTS CIS)
The Coordinating Council of the Heads of Tax Services of the Member States of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CCHTS CIS) was established in May 2001.
The main direction of the Council's activity is the cooperation of tax services from the CIS member states in the fields of tax policy and administration, the development of agreements and interstate and intergovernmental decisions to improve tax policy and administration, strengthen tax audits in the sphere of foreign economic activity and stepping up joint efforts to tackle tax evasion.
