The UK is the first of 44 countries to formally commit to implementing the new country-by-country reporting template introduced by the OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) to start automatically exchanging tax information in an effort to eliminate global tax evasion.

The OECD hope for all financial centers to make the commitment by the global forum meeting in Berlin in October, where they stated "We support further co-ordination and collaboration by our tax authorities on their compliance activities on entities and individuals involved in cross-border tax arrangements."

David Gauke, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, on the UK's reasoning behind the lead said "We believe that this type of reporting will improve transparency and help identify risks for tax avoidance that's why we're formally committing to it. Reporting high level information using a standardized form across all jurisdictions will ensure consistency, give tax authorities the information they need and minimize the additional administration burden on business."