Gibraltar Ready To Conclude Spanish TIEA

by Amanda Banks, Tax-News.com, London

10 May 2010

Gibraltar’s Chief Minister, Peter Caruana has underlined the territory’s willingness to enter into a Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Spain as soon as possible.

The announcement follows the conclusion of year-long negotiations on a trilateral agreement with Madrid, mediated by the UK. While it is thought that small textual alterations are still required to the TIEA, Caruana, in recent comments, stated that "the text has been agreed, and as far as we are concerned it could be signed tomorrow. We don’t want to be seen as a threat to Spain’s public treasury."

The beginning of talks signaled a change in stance by the Spanish government towards bridging a long-standing feud between Spain and the UK; Gibraltar’s autonomy from Spain has long been a bone of contention between the Spanish and British governments.

Gibraltar has already concluded a total of eighteen TIEAs, classifying it as a territory that has substantially implemented the internationally agreed standard in transparency and information exchange.

While the Spanish authorities have said that the agreement will facilitate efforts towards reducing tax evasion, the TIEA is not expected to deter companies from registering in Gibraltar. Indeed, Gibraltar’s new 10% corporate tax regime, to come into force at the end of 2010, compares very favourably with Spain's 30% corporate tax rate.

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