Bahamas plans tax deals

(CNS): Currently listed on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development OECD grey list with only one Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA), the Bahamas has announced that it intends to start signing agreements with a number of countries including China. The country’s PM said that in light of the progress made toward the implementation of what he described as a “level-playing field” among financial centres, the Government of The Bahamas intended, to enter into negotiations.

In a statement from the Ministry of Finance Zhivargo Laing said that as the world’s leading financial centres have made significant progress toward broader application of the standards for transparency and information exchange in tax matters that all significant financial centres that were formerly opposed have now declared their commitment to the internationally agreed standards, and are all engaged in implementing the standards to accommodate the sharing of tax information.

He said that negotiations have commenced with the Bahamas and Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, Spain, Germany, France, Turkey, and the Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland and the Faroe Islands) for Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs).

“It is the intention of The Bahamas to conclude negotiations on these Agreements by the end of this year,” said Laing. “Additionally, the Government has initiated discussions for an agreement on tax information exchange with the People’s Republic of China, and proposes to initiate discussions with Mexico, Brazil, Japan, Ireland, South Africa and India.”

He also said the country had introduced new legislative framework to support the expanded network of tax information exchange arrangements. “The Government is confident that these activities will allow The Bahamas to meet the Exchange of Information standards that have been set by both the G-20 and the OECD on the shortest possible timetable and within the given timeframes, while avoiding any potential adverse listing,” he added.