Eugene Cox In UK To Discuss EU Savings Tax Directive

by Carla Johnson, Investors Offshore.com

23 May 2002

Bermuda's Finance Minister, Eugene Cox visited the UK this week in order to ascertain the possible implications of the EU Savings Tax Directive on British Overseas Territories.

Accompanied by Financial Secretary Donald Scott, Mr Cox met with Treasury and Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials in order to determine the likely impact of the directive on Bermuda's finance sector. Although the UK has recently exerted pressure on Crown Dependencies such as Jersey to agree to information exchange on the savings interest of non-resident EU account holders, Bermuda is understood to have received no such ultimatum.

According to a report in the Bermuda Royal Gazette, the official government line should the low tax jurisdiction be asked to agree to information exchange with regard to EU members is not known, and the Ministry of Finance declined to comment on the matter earlier this week.

However, Bermuda is unlikely to commit to the accord if its competitors do not, and continuing opposition to the directive from member states such as Austria and Luxembourg, and non-members such as Switzerland, means that the possibility of an agreement any time soon on the issue looks increasingly unlikely.

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