It has also been agreed that information about who owns and controls individual companies should be shared between countries.
The news follows recent criticism by Labour leader Ed Miliband of the 'extraordinary lengths' taken by Google to avoid paying corporation tax in the UK. However, Eric Schmidt, executive chairman at the firm, countered that the responsibility for setting tax policy should rest with governments.
This latest development followed the news that overseas territories have signed an agreement to share their tax information with the UK. The British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Bermuda, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands have agreed to the automatic exchange of information with the UK authorities, together with France, Spain, Germany and Italy to try to tackle those who hold their assets abroad.
Speaking a month before the G8 summit, Prime Minister David Cameron urged overseas territories to 'get their house in order' and sign up to international tax treaties.
Tax avoidance is a subject that has received extensive coverage in recent months, with the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) indicting companies paying low rates of corporation tax as 'immoral'.
However, Sir Roger Carr, the President of the CBI, criticised politicians' moral rhetoric when it came to tax avoidance, stating that 'tax should not be viewed as a down payment of social acceptability. Tax should be calculated in keeping with the law of the land.' He stated that while the CBI did not pardon abusive tax avoidance, a change in legislation was needed, to 'fix the rules internationally, not unilaterally'.
