The Lead Story
OECD Pulls Back the Curtain on Cross-Border Real Estate
The Big Picture: If you thought shell companies holding luxury condos were hard to track, the OECD just turned on the floodlights. The organisation has launched a Global Real Estate Transparency Framework aimed at unmasking who really owns property across borders, IMI Daily (this mirrors developments in Nigerian Tax Laws 2025). The goal: curb money-laundering, tax evasion, and the all-too-familiar game of hide-and-seek with offshore trusts.
The Details: The new framework sets minimum disclosure standards for tax authorities, land registries, and financial institutions. Countries signing on will be expected to swap beneficial-ownership data in real time, beef up penalties for non-compliance, and align property registries with existing Common Reporting Standard rules. One OECD official called it “a missing puzzle piece in the fight against illicit financial flows see our guide on Nigeria Tax Administration Act, 2025.” France’s parliament, however, just rejected a broader wealth-tax proposal, signaling that political appetite for transparency still varies widely.
Why It Matters / What They’re Saying: Real estate is the last major asset class without a global transparency regime. Tax professionals are buzzing because property has been a preferred vehicle for parking untaxed gains. “Expect a surge in voluntary disclosures once owners realise the drawbridge is going up,” a Big Four partner told IMI Daily. Skeptics warn that without U.S. participation the framework could have “Swiss-cheese” holes, but OECD officials insist momentum is on their side.
Around the Tax World
• AI trims the org chart. Artificial intelligence will cause “most advisory firms to shrink,” in-house tax leader Isabella Barreto told International Tax Review. Entry-level roles may vanish, but new tech-heavy tax jobs are already emerging.
• KPMG Sweden’s clean sweep. The firm snagged Tier 1 rankings in every category of the 2026 ITR World Tax report, from general corporate tax to transfer pricing (KPMG).
• Kenya wants your comments. The Kenya Revenue Authority opened a public consultation on draft rules for its domestic minimum top-up tax and advance pricing agreements, giving stakeholders a say before year-end implementation (Law360).
• Campari splash turns sour. Italian police seized €1.3 billion in shares from the beverage giant’s holding company over an alleged tax-evasion scheme, according to ICAEW’s news round-up.
By the Numbers
Tax Stat of the Day: US$475 billion. That’s how much corporate tax revenue countries lost between 2016-2021 because of a “global gag order” that hides multinationals’ profit-shifting activities, the Tax Justice Network estimates.
Looking Ahead
All eyes are now on which G20 members formally sign the OECD real estate framework at the bloc’s December ministerial. Meanwhile, comments on Kenya’s draft regulations close November 30, so expect a final rulebook,and plenty of transfer-pricing chatter,by early 2026.
For further insights on domestic regulatory changes, see the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, 2025.