Description
Maria José Garde has been appointed Head of the Global Forum Secretariat in the Center for Tax Policy and Administration (CTP/GF) at the OECD, with effect from 23 March 2026. She is an accomplished senior civil servant from the public administration of Spain, with extensive experience in national and international tax matters and policies. Since 2018, Maria José has served as the Director General of Taxation at the Ministry of Finance in Spain, where she led the ministerial department consisting of 120 officials, mainly tax inspectors. In this role, Maria José was responsible for drafting tax legislation, delivering tax rulings and providing binding interpretations of Spanish tax law at the request of taxpayers. She also represented the Spanish Tax Administration in international tax forums, both within the EU, the OECD and across other international organisations. With over 25 years of work experience, Maria José has focused on international taxation from a public perspective. From 2015, she has been a member of the Bureau of the OECD Committee on Fiscal Affairs, where she currently serves as Deputy Chair. Maria José was a key player in the design of the BEPS Project and the Inclusive Framework, both addressing the tax challenges that arise from the digitalization of the economy. For 6 years (2017-2022) she has served as Chair of the Global Forum, where she led the worldwide development and implementation of the standards of transparency. From 2023 onwards, she has served as Chair of the EU Code of Conduct Group on Business. A Spanish national, she is a Tax Inspector (Internal Auditor and Controller, on leave of absence) and holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the Complutense University of Madrid (CUNEF).
