New Tax Justice Network reports on real estate transparency

Today the Tax Justice Network published two reports on real estate transparency. The first one, “Beneficial ownership of real estate around the world” summarises the findings of the Financial Secrecy Index on real estate transparency. It also it updates the report “Beneficial ownership registration around the world 2022” by assessing the state of play of beneficial ownership registration as of 2026, and checks which beneficial ownership laws trigger registration based on holding or acquiring real estate. The report identifies the frameworks and countries with the best real estate infrastructure (e.g. central, online real estate registries) and transparency (e.g. online, free and public access to information on real estate ownership). It also compares the results based on geographical region and membership to the OECD to explore the reasons that may explain why some countries are at the vanguard of real estate transparency, while others are lagging behind.

The second report “Integrating the Collection, Use and Exchange of Real Estate Ownership Information” explains the importance of beneficial ownership of real estate to tackle illicit financial flows. The report also explores all the potential sources of real estate information, considering the advantages and disadvantages of each one (e.g. the real estate registry, the tax administration, the financial intelligence unit, as well as banks, insurance companies, real estate brokers and public notaries subject to anti-money laundering requirements). On exchange of information, the report discusses the different frameworks for international exchanges (e.g. mutual legal assistance, sharing of financial intelligence and exchanges for tax purposes), illustrating how all new frameworks for automatic exchange of information (e.g. exchanges of information on immovable property, digital platforms, financial accounts and crypto-assets) could complement each other to offer information on foreign real estate held by nationals of each country. Finally, the report proposes how to integrate all this information into one platform to allow authorities as well as other stakeholders (e.g. investigative journalists, civil society organisations) to access and use this information to tackle financial crimes.

A brief summarising both reports is available here.