U.K., Germany and Other EU Countries Agree to Pilot Multilateral Tax Information Exchange Based on FATCA

The United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy and Spain have signed an agreement establishing a pilot multilateral information exchange facility based on the U.S. FATCA Model 1 Agreement that each country has entered, or intends to enter, into with the United States. In a letter to EU Commissioner Algirdas Semeta, the five EU members called the U.S. FATCA Intergovernmental Agreements a "step change in tax transparency" and said that the pilot project will provide "a template as to the wider multilateral agreement we hope to see in due course." The five countries invited other EU countries to join the pilot program and expressed the hope "that Europe can take the lead in promoting a global system of automatic information exchange, removing the hiding places for those who would seek to avoid paying their taxes."

See: Letter to EU Commission.