Following the European Union's decision last week to adopt the EU Tax Package, which comprises the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, the Directive on Taxation of Savings, and the Directive on Interest and Royalties, Guernsey's Advisory and Finance Committee president, Deputy Laurie Morgan, confirmed the jurisdiction's intention to recommend legislation introducing a retention tax.
'The Committee welcomes the decision of the ECOFIN Council to adopt the EU Tax Package,' Deputy Morgan announced, continuing:
'We will now review in detail the final text for the Directive on Taxation of Savings along with the terms of the draft agreement which has been negotiated with the Swiss Government...The Committee can now confirm its previous announcement of 4 April that it will recommend to the States legislation to introduce a retention tax on EU resident individuals' savings interest at the same time as the EU Members States of Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg and the named Third Countries of Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and Switzerland.'
The A&F chief also welcomed the fact that Guernsey's proposed corporate taxation strategy, and the timetable for its implementation have been accepted by the EU, and revealed that Advisory and Finance will, in due course, enter into bilateral negotiations with EU member states and third countries to discuss the coordinated implementation of the retention tax.
A comprehensive report on the OECD, FATF and other 'offshore' initiatives, including the EU's Savings Tax Directive, is available in the Tax News Reports Shop at http://www.tax-news.com/reportshop
