Ukraine and the European Union will create a working group to work out options for cooperation as a part of the formation of the global tax information automatic exchange system, the press service of the Income and Tax Ministry of Ukraine reported on Monday.

The press service said that the agreement was reached at a meeting of Income and Tax Minister Oleksandr Klymenko with EU Commissioner responsible for taxation and customs union, audit and anti-fraud Algirdas Šemeta.

"The problem of the diluting of the taxation base is urgent both for Europe and Ukraine. According to our estimates, only this year over UAH 33 billion was withdrawn from taxation in Ukraine to offshore and low taxation jurisdictions. We welcome the ambitious and comprehensive Action Plan on BEPS [Base Erosion and Profit Shifting]. We believe that it will allow the creation of additional opportunities for fighting profit shifting. Ukraine is ready to join its implementation," Klymenko said.

Šemeta said that before the planned signing of the Association Agreement with the EU is a good time for Ukraine to join the global processes of fighting BEPS under the EU standards and the Action Plan on BEPS.

Klymenko said that Ukraine passed and implements a law on transfer pricing, and steps for the country's membership in the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes have been made. The country also exchanges information with some offshore jurisdictions, including Belize, the British Virgin Islands, the Bermuda Islands, Aruba, etc.

The press service of the ministry said that the creation of the global tax information automatic exchange system is foreseen in Action Plan on BEPS, which was presented by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and approved in September 2013 at the G20 Summit in St. Petersburg.