Isle Of Man Not Quite Hitting The OECD Target

Mandy Robinson, Tax-news.com, London

01 December 2000

Although the Isle of Man has put in place a series of tax reform initiatives designed to comply with OECD demands, the dependency has been informed that it must make more changes before it can satisfy the OECD and be removed from the organisation's tax haven blacklist.

Jurisdictions that have not complied with the OECD directives by July 2001 will be threatened with economic sanctions. It is certain that this will not be the case with the Isle of Man.

OECD Deputy Secretary General Seiichi Kondo has praised the Isle of Man saying the island had done well but the regulations governing transparency, exempt companies and the exchange of information were issues that had yet to be dealt with. He stated: 'I hope the Isle of Man comes up with a satisfactory agreement with us.'

At the end of last week the OECD published a Framework for a Collective Memorandum of Understanding on Eliminating Harmful Tax Practices (see Tax-News.com Resources section for the full text). The OECD said it was part of its drive to improve co-operation with jurisdictions identified as tax havens and can form a basis for the OECD to continue its dialogue with those jurisdictions. It sets out the steps that the OECD is asking them to take in order demonstrate "a commitment to transparency, non-discrimination and effective co-operation."

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