International Exchange of Information : Legitimacy and Rights from the Taxpayer's Perspective

The main objective of this paper is to analyze the current developments of international exchange of information taking into account the legitimacy of these instruments vis-á-vis the taxpayer including the protection of taxpayer's rights. The taxpayer rights addressed in this article are the right to confidentiality and privacy and also the taxpayer right to notification (and appeal) to the exchange of information.The first part of the assessment of legitimacy addresses the participation and representation of the taxpayer in the drafting of the content of the international instruments to exchange information. The second part addresses whether the taxpayer rights have been reduced due to the peer review process by the Global Transparency Forum, and if so what solutions can be presented to protect the taxpayer's rights. For this purpose, this paper provides a comparison of the taxpayer's rights and the changes following the peer review process in Canada, Colombia, the Netherlands, Uruguay, the United States and Switzerland. The change from exchange of information on request to a new global standard of automatic exchange of information requires that attention is also given to the taxpayer. Therefore, this paper recommends to develop an international instrument that enhance the protection of taxpayer's rights