Germany, Gibraltar Sign TIEA

by Ulrika Lomas, LawAndTax-News.com, Brussels

19 August 2009

On August 13, Germany and Gibraltar signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA), which the German Finance Ministry has described as being part of an international crackdown on tax evasion.

The TIEA will, according to a statement issued by the ministry, will allow German authorities to gain access to information they feel is necessary to enforce German tax law. The agreement will also allow Germany to seek any older information held by Gibraltar’s authorities for use in criminal tax proceedings. The statement goes on to say that the ministry believes the agreement conforms to OECD standards. The agreement is one of a number recently signed for Gibraltar, including TIEAs with Ireland and New Zealand.

However, the Socialist Labour opposition party in Gibraltar has criticized the ruling Social Democrat government for not announcing such agreements. Shadow Minister for Financial Services Fabian Picardo said he is concerned that international news reports portray Gibraltar, which is on the OECD gray list, as “bending” to global pressure in its efforts to become more transparent. He continued:

“It is important that the Government should announce these agreements in Gibraltar and that the texts of these agreements should be accessible to the professionals in the financial services sector who are advising on international transactions. It is not satisfactory that [the Government] leaves our financial services sector to find out the existence of such agreements from reports in the international press of what other governments have said.”

Picardo added: “It is equally disappointing to see that Gibraltar is being presented as a recalcitrant party executing agreements under pressure as a result of the present Chief Minister’s failure to enter into 12 Tax Information Exchange Agreements before the G20 meeting in London in April. Guernsey, for example, is using the fact that its government had the foresight to enter into such agreements before the G20 meeting – and is therefore on the OECD white list – as a marketing tool. We are deprived of that positive marketing aspect by the Government’s failure to enter into the requisite 12 agreements before April.”

There have also been reports that Spain is to sign a TIEA in relation to Gibraltar – but that agreement will be with the UK, and not with Gibraltar.

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