IoM Government Confident Over Savings Tax Directive Response

by Caroline Maxwell, Tax-News.com, London

19 June 2002

The Isle of Man's Treasury Minister, Allan Bell announced this week that he will be unveiling the jurisdiction's response to the two-pronged EU tax initiative in two to three weeks time.

Speaking following the announcement earlier this month that both Jersey and Guernsey had agreed to exchange information on the taxation of non-resident savings interest, the Manx Assessor of Tax, Ian Kelly announced that the Isle of Man would be announcing its plans 'in due course'.

However, according to a report from the Isle of Man Online news service on Tuesday, a response to the EU directive has now been formulated.

Addressing a Barclays presentation, Mr Bell revealed that the government was confident that it had managed to address both the exchange of information proposal and the more contentious code of conduct relating to 'harmful tax practices', with minimal impact to the attractiveness of the Island as an international finance centre.

'I believe the Treasury has now identified an acceptable way forward on both these issues which will meet the expectations of the code of conduct group while at the same time protecting the interests of the Isle of Man,' the Treasury Minister was quoted as announcing by IOM Online.

He added that: 'The early indications we have of this from our sources is that the proposal, which we are going to put forward in the next two to three weeks, is acceptable and that it will enable us to move forward with some confidence that the threats which have been hanging over the (other) offshore jurisdictions will not apply to the Isle of Man.'

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