Singapore, Canada Sign TIE Protocol

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

01 December 2011

A protocol to the existing double taxation agreement (DTA) between Singapore and Canada was signed on November 29, 2011, and will enter into force after the completion of ratification procedures by both countries.

The protocol incorporates the internationally-agreed Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes into the existing bilateral DTA. It was signed in Singapore by Moses Lee, Commissioner of Inland Revenue, and David Sevigny, Canada’s High Commissioner to Singapore.

The original bilateral double taxation agreement was completed on March 6, 1976. The new protocol will apply to “taxes of every kind and description” imposed in either country.

The protocol will give the tax authorities of both countries a greater ability to exchange taxpayer information. It provides that neither tax authority can refuse to provide information solely because it does not require the information for its own domestic purposes, or because the information is held by a bank or similar institution.

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