Bermuda Premier signs tax agreement with US, visits Jamaica
HAMILTON, Bermuda (CMC) — Bermuda has signed a new tax agreement with the United States that premier David Burt says demonstrates the island’s continued commitment to transparency.
Burt, who left here over the weekend for Jamaica, said the Country by Country Competent Authority Agreement signified that the PLP government had satisfied the Internal Revenue Services’ data safeguards review and complied with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development Base Erosion and Profit Shifting tax transparency standards.
Under this agreement, Bermuda — a British Overseas Territory — now automatically provides corporate income of Bermuda-based multinational enterprises that have any US income-generating activities.
“The agreement we have put in place with the United States demonstrates Bermuda’s continued commitment to being transparent, co-operative and compliant with international tax authorities,” Burt said.
“As a leading jurisdiction in global tax transparency we will continue, without reservation, to show that Bermuda is no place to hide money. We stand by our call for other countries to meet the Bermuda standard.”
The agreement complements Bermuda’s other automatic exchange of information agreement with the US, which was signed on December 19, 2013, that provides income information on US taxpayers under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
It is also consistent with an agreement signed earlier this month between Bermuda and the United Kingdom, Burt said.
The UK agreement, like the US agreement, enables the automatic reporting of corporate income on a country-by-country basis for UK tax enforcement purposes.
Burt, who is also finance minister, is attending the Caribbean Infrastructure Forum that begins in Jamaica on Monday. He is being accompanied by Minister of Public Works David Burch.
