Angola has been implementing several tax reforms at local and international level (with emphasis on the signing of agreements to avoid double taxation), which are essentially measures to combat tax evasion and other forms of illicit financial flows.

 

As part of these reforms, Angola became, on 8 March 2023, the 166th and 35th African member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Tax Information[1]  ("Global Forum").

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The Global Forum comprises G20 countries, members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), International Financial Centres and other countries that have been active in various regions of the world, including Africa, which currently holds the first and most advanced regional initiative called "Africa Initiative", launched in 2014, for African member states, now including Angola, and some regional and international partners.

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With this accession, the Angolan State is expected to create the conditions for direct application of the agreed international standards for automatic exchange of financial account information (AEOI) and exchange of information on request (EOIR).

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Among the various agreed international standards referred to above, we highlight the fact that Angola can

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• Receive information on foreign bank accounts of tax residents and send abroad information on non-resident accounts, as it already does with the USA under FACTA.  Information sharing must be done in a pre-defined format, and will include details about the Account (e.g. the financial institution where the account is domiciled, the account number and balance) and about the Account Holder (e.g. name, address, date of birth and tax identification number);

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• automatically exchange information in specific situations between the Tax Authorities of the Global Forum member countries (accounting records, bank statements and information on ownership of assets);

 

Similarly, it is expected that financial institutions, under the guidance of the regulatory authority (Banco Nacional de Angola) will adjust their actions in accordance with the international standards of the Global Forum, with emphasis on (i) the requirement to present a certificate proving tax residence, as part of the documentary requirements for opening new financial accounts and (ii) compliance with the procedures for handling confidential documents, in order to avoid all possible leaks or malicious invasions in the transmission and storage of information.

 

However, the application of the international standards of the Global Forum depends on the approval and publication of the respective internal legal norms (resolution by Parliament) which, in addition to enabling them in the internal legal system, determines the moment from which these new provisions will come into effect, which is crucial so that the entities covered are prepared to ensure compliance with the new obligations to which they will be subject.

 

[1] The Global Forum is a multilateral body that aims to ensure that jurisdictions around the world adhere to and effectively implement both the exchange of information on request and the standard of automatic information exchange through a monitoring and peer review process.

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