The international exchange of tax information falls within the area of administrative cooperation. Its legal base lies in international, bilateral or multilateral conventions (depending on the number of contracting states), which can be either specific with regard to mutual assistance (for example, agreements on the exchange of information), or else be part of an international double taxation agreement. The competent authority in the matter carries out the exchanging function and it is centralised at the Secretariat of State for International Financial Matters (Ministry of Finances) in order to ensure the cooperation and consistency that is necessary with regard to the policy on the exchange of information.

With regard to the exchange of information, there are three types of exchanges: by prior, automatic and spontaneous request, and these often complement one another. These forms of exchange are envisaged within the framework of the multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters of the Council of Europe and the OECD.

The Global Forum on transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes (Global Forum) is a body that is dependent on the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development), which has undertaken a key role in deciding the standards to be followed in the preparation and application of international rules in matters related to the exchange of tax information between states. It prepares, interprets and updates these standards and ensures their implementation in all the states through monitoring and by carrying out peer reviews in a process that has a global range. Up to now, Andorra has been the subject of two peer reviews within the ordinary programme established by the Global Forum.

The first review (phase 1) carried out by the Global Forum examined the conditions and the legal and regulatory framework for mutual administrative assistance in relation to the exchange of information following a prior request. The second review (phase 2) analysed the application of the exchange of information in tax matters in practice. The peer reviews are based on the Terms of Reference from a list of elements.

Tipus d’intercanvi d’informació en matèria fiscal