OECD tax director says international crypto tax standards are coming in 2021

Pascal Saint-Amans, the director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, has asserted that the 37-nation organization will introduce a common reporting standard, or CRS, for crypto assets in 2021.

According to Law360, Amans stated that the crypto tax standard “would be roughly equivalent to the CRS” developed by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to combat tax evasion.

The director attributed the likely development of the crypto tax CRS to a desire to introduce stronger standards surrounding crypto regulations among its member-countries:

“The timeline to deliver is probably ’21, sometime in ’21, because there is an appetite by all countries now.”

Amans’ comments come days after the European Commission launched a process to amend and extend its tax evasion laws pertinent to crypto assets. The proposal was published on Nov. 23, with the EC set to receive public feedback on the initiative until Dec. 21. The new laws are expected to be introduced during the third quarter 2021.

Despite the action taken by the EC, Amans expects that the OECD will establish crypto tax standards before Europe, describing the policy arena as an “opportunity for the EU to align with [the OECD’s] standard.”

However, uncoordinated simultaneous development could result in the OECD and Europe establishing particular policy positions that contradict each other — threatening to create regulatory challenges for the OECD’s European members, as has been recently seen concerning the taxation of digital services.

Amans dismissed these concerns however, asserting that any proposal from the OECD would be “complementary” to EU regulations. Speaking to Law360, an EC spokesperson indicated the organization is working “in parallel” with the OECD to “avoid overlaps or inconsistencies to the extent possible.”

“At the same time the specific situation of the EU and its member states needs to be taken into account,” they added.