GBA To Meet With Gibraltar Government Over EU Savings Tax Agreement

by Jason Gorringe, Tax-News.com, London

24 January 2003

The Gibraltar government and the Gibraltar Bankers Association are to meet on January 30 to discuss the implications of the European Union's savings tax agreement for the jurisdiction's finance centre, according to a report from the Panorama news service.

Quoting from a Council of Europe document published after Tuesday's Ecofin meeting, Panorama revealed that:

'All relevant dependent or associated territories (the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Caribbean territories) must either apply automatic exchange of information or adopt the transition withholding tax arrangements applicable to Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland.'

However, a government statement released in Gibraltar following the agreement made it clear that the Rock's authorities were far from happy about the implications that the agreement could have for Gibraltar, given that the UK itself is one of the 12 countries which will be adopting the automatic information exchange regime in 2004:

'From the outset of this issue, the Gibraltar government has intensely pressed HMG to ensure that Gibraltar enjoys the same choices as the most favourably treated EU member state, and even other Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. There is nothing in the language of yesterday's decision that explicitly or implicitly delivers this,' the statement announced.

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