IRS Admits St Vincent To The QI Program

by Leroy Baker, Lawandtax-News.com, New York

16 March 2007

The US Internal Revenue Service has admitted St. Vincent and the Grenadines to its qualified intermediary program, and is now displaying a listing that details the KYC standards applicable in St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

The publishing of this attachment means that the IRS recognizes the anti money laundering laws of SVG as of an equivalent standard of those of the USA and means that the US authorities are open to doing business with SVG financial intermediaries.

Other news from the jurisdiction includes a new International Business Companies Act, an ongoing boom in tourism, and a new LLC Act which enables segregated cells:

• The IBC Act has had its first reading in Parliament and is before a Select Committee of experts for refinement. The new Act allows for an IBC to elect to pay a 1% tax.
• There is a major boom in real estate/luxury tourism development in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The new IBC Act also permits an IBC to hold land in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. As such, new tourism developments can be structured through a St. Vincent IBC and homeowners on Mustique, Canouan and Bequia who currently use IBCs from elsewhere can now have a SVG IBC.
• The new LLC Act, is based on the Delaware Series LLC. This innovative concept allows one LLC to establish separate series, or units, under the same LLC umbrella. Each unit of a Series LLC can own distinct assets, incur separate liabilities, and have different managers and members. A Series LLC pays one filing fee and files one income tax return each year. The SVG LLC Act will be the most modern LLC Statute to date. Public / private sector consultations on this Act are underway and it will be introduced as law by mid year.
  

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