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Monica Bhatia was also in the
Global Tax 50
2014, and
2013 |
Monica Bhatia makes the Global Tax 50 for the third time
running, having now led the secretariat of OECD Global Forum on
Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for
almost four years.
The French-based tax expert has an array of skills, having
been trained in psychology, economics, law and finance. She has
held posts as a commissioner in the Indian Income Tax
Department, and in the Indian government as the director of tax
policy and legislation, director of foreign tax and tax
research and as an additional director of income tax,
international taxation, before moving to Paris and the OECD in
2012.
"2015 has been another incredibly demanding – and
rewarding – year at the Global Forum," says Bhatia.
"Our global reach is increasing. Not only is our membership
continuing to expand and more jurisdictions are joining the
Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance,
but the depth of our engagement with our members is
enhancing."
The Global Forum is used by countries both within and
outside of the OECD to increase transparency, working on money
laundering and offshore issues as well as tax. Indeed, Bhatia
and Pascal Saint-Amans joined together to criticise the
European Commission's publication of a list of 30
non-cooperative jurisdictions blacklisted by EU member
states.
Much of the Forum's work this year has focused on engaging
more deeply with its members. This work has involved, in
particular, helping countries to implement international
standards, with one example of its influence and success being
the spread of automatic exchange of information (AEoI).
The impact of the Forum's work is becoming more and more
visible as more countries commit to AEoI and implement global
standards, and it has also made inroads into the developing
world to expand its work with countries there.
"In particular, I am extremely proud of the role of the
Global Forum in the Addis Ababa Third International Conference
on Financing for Development, which put tax transparency centre
stage for the next decade of work on international
development," says Bhatia, who also points out the Forum's work
in battling to maintain a position of influence in the area of
tax transparency at a time of great – and rapid
– change.
"We also saw some challenges which appeared to cast a shadow
on the remarkable progress made by many of our members on the
agenda of tax transparency and moved swiftly to ensure that the
Global Forum's work retains its pre-eminence in the assessment
of progress on international standards on transparency and
exchange of information for tax purposes," she says.
All of this was achieved alongside Bhatia's regular
workload, which included the completion of 41 peer reviews
during 2015, while a framework for a new round of reviews has
also been established.