Dawn Primarolo Speaks On UK's Double Tax Treaty Priorities

by Caroline Maxwell, Tax-News.com, London

23 July 2002

In a statement released on Friday, the UK's Paymaster General, Dawn Primarolo detailed recent developments with regard to the signing of double tax agreements, and outlined the government's priorities in this area for the remainder of this financial year.

'Double taxation agreements play an important role for UK businesses as they provide certainty of tax treatment for those involved in cross border trade,' Ms Primarolo explained, continuing:

'I am pleased to announce the programme of work on double taxation agreements for the year to 31st March 2003. We hope to conclude work on several treaties and also intend to open negotiations with a number of new countries.'

In terms of recent developments, the Inland Revenue statement revealed, a limited shipping agreement with Hong Kong entered into force in May last year, a comprehensive double tax agreement (DTA) between the UK and the Kingdom of Jordan came into effect on 24 March 2002, and the DAT between the United States and the UK was signed on 24 July 2001.

Current and future priorities include the ratification of the aforementioned US-UK tax treaty, and the completion of negotiations with France, South Africa, and Taiwan.

The UK tax authority also hopes to continue talks with Australia, Botswana, Chile, Georgia, Slovenia and Namibia, and to complete work on amendments to existing treaties with Canada and the Netherlands.

'We also have plans for exploratory talks about new or updated DTAs with Croatia, Iran, Italy (Protocol), Libya, Poland and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,' the Inland Revenue announced last week.

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