Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek announced that an agreement stipulating a mutual exchange of financial information between the Turkish and U.S. governments would be signed on Thursday. In accordance with the agreement, Turkey will convey information to the U.S. about Americans having accounts in Turkish financial institutions and the U.S. will inform Turkey about Turkish residents having accounts in American financial institutions. Making statements on the matter to Anadolu Agency, Şimşek said the U.S. is preparing two agreement models that pay attention to various countries' policies and legal systems and are aimed at offering an information exchange with regard to tax subjects. Model 1 is based on the principle of reciprocity and Model 2 aims to provide information for the U.S.

More than 100 countries, including the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) members, EU countries and almost all G20 countries, have made these kinds of international agreements with the U.S. Thus far, Model 1 has been signed between the U.S. and 61 countries, while Model 2 has been signed between the U.S. and seven countries.

The Finance Ministry has also been working on the matter for a while, said Şimşek, adding that they decided to agree on Model 1 as a result of thorough evaluations. According to the agreement, Turkish financial institutions will annually inform the Revenue Administration (GİB) about American account holders in Turkey and GİB will convey this information to the U.S. Likewise, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will inform Turkey about account-holding Turkish residents in U.S. financial institutions.

The agreement is aimed at effectively fighting against tax losses and evasion and at reinforcing cooperation between the two countries in terms of boosting voluntary tax compliance. The agreement will enter into force after receiving parliamentary approval. In accordance with the agreement, Turkey will provide information to the U.S. regarding the names, addresses, U.S. taxpayer identification numbers and account numbers of American account holders. Also, the U.S. will be informed about the names and identity numbers of notifying financial institutions and account balances and values belonging to the time immediately before an account is squandered during the relevant calendar year or at the end of the proper notification period. The U.S. will offer Turkey information about the names, addresses, Turkish taxpayer identification numbers and account numbers of Turkish resident account holders.