BVI Nears Signing Of Twelfth Information Exchange Agreement

by Phillip Morton, Investors Offshore.com

11 June 2009

The Prime Minister of the British Virgin Islands, Ralph O’Neal, has announced that he is to travel to France next week to conclude the signing of a Tax Information Exchange Agreement. The signing of the agreement will bring the British Virgin Island’s tally of such agreements to eleven, one short of being deemed ‘fully-compliant’ with the OECD’s principles of transparency and information exchange.

During a press conference O’Neal commented:

"In the light of the new requirements the BVI publicly committed to achieve the new standards and to demonstrate its compliance with the OECD principles. The Territory was placed on the OECD's grey list following the G-20 Summit, meaning that it is ‘committed to the internationally agreed tax standard, but had not yet substantially implemented such agreements'.”

The Prime Minister underlined that following the signing of an agreement with France, the territory would continue to seek out agreements to exchange information in cases of tax crimes and to provide assistance in tax matters. When the British Virgin Islands concludes twelve agreement it will likely be moved to the OECD ‘white list’ of jurisdictions that have fully complied with the OECD standard.

O’Neal added: “Negotiations with New Zealand are nearly concluded and we hope to sign a 12th TIEA in the very near future. Although we would reach the number suggested by the OECD and the G-20, we do not intend to stop there; we intend to continue to negotiate with other countries like Germany, Austria, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Canada and as many countries as we can make contact with and are willing to negotiate with the [British Virgin Islands].”

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