The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes on 16th March 2015 published new peer review reports, including the El Salvador's Phase 1 Report. This shows the ongoing progress of this country towards implementation of the international standard for information exchange upon request.

El Salvador's Phase 1 Report evaluated its legal and regulatory framework for transparency and information exchange and, as a result of this evaluation, the country will move on to the next phase in the review process, which will evaluate information on a practical level in the first quarter of 2015.

The Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes brings together over 100 jurisdictions, both members and non-members of the OECD, which have made a commitment to transparency and information exchange and worked together to develop international standards for transparency and information exchange in tax matters.

The Forum handles in-depth supervision and peer review of the application of the regulatory standards for transparency and information exchange. The peer review process takes place in two phases: Phase 1 evaluates the quality of the legal and regulatory framework of a jurisdiction in terms of information exchange; Phase 2 evaluates practical application within this framework.

In the framework for El Salvador's process of joining the Global Forum, the Salvadoran Ministry of Finance had the support of European Commission's EUROsociAL II Programme. From 24th to 28th November 2014, a technical assistance mission to the Directorate-General of Internal Revenue of the Ministry of Finance was carried out for this purpose. The mission was headed by European expert Mary Antoinette Musilek Álvarez, Coordinator of the International Taxation Area of the Sub-Directorate General of International Taxation of Spain's Ministry of Finance and Public Administrations and Spanish Delegate to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.

The activity was aimed at providing the Salvadoran authorities with an understanding of the results of their Phase 1 evaluation; transmitting information on “Common Reporting Standards”; evaluating whether El Salvador complies with the standards of the Global Forum; analysing Salvadoran legislation with respect to transparency in tax matters; analysing the experience of other countries to adapt the regulation to international standards for adequate information exchange; and facilitating preparation of the technical team in charge of representing El Salvador before the Peer Review Group (PRG) held in Paris last February.

The support provided by EUROsociAL to the Directorate-General of Internal Revenue of the Ministry of Finance represented an important step in the process of El Salvador becoming a member of the Global Forum, as the results of this evaluation will allow the country to move on to the next phase in the review process. The next phase will evaluate information exchange on a practical level in the first half of 2015.

This EUROsociAL Programme activity is part of the "Promotion of voluntary compliance with tax obligations" action of the Public Finance area, in which the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT) is acting as the operational partner.

The results of the peer-review report for El Salvador are public and can be consulted at: DOI: OECD (2015), Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Peer Reviews: El Salvador 2015: Phase 1: Legal and Regulatory Framework, OECD Publishing, Paris.