(CMC) – The St Lucia government Friday said it expects to join fellow Caribbean Community (CARICOM) neighbours, Barbados and Grenada, in being removed from a new list of global tax havens by the European Union. The EU has signalled its intention to remove the CARICOM countries after they submitted plans… – Continue reading
ST GEORGE’S – Prime Minister Dr Keith Mitchell says Grenada is expected to be removed from the European Union Blacklist by the end of January. The decision to remove Grenada, one of 17 countries blacklisted by the EU, is expected to follow a meeting of the Financial and Economic Unit… – Continue reading
Grenada’s Inland Revenue Division has completed a series of training exercises for its staff and the island’s financial institutions in preparation for the start of reporting under the US Financial Account Tax Compliance Act. Reporting by FIs under FATCA is governed by a November 2016 inter-governmental agreement between the US… – Continue reading
The Governments of the United States and Grenada have signed the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) that will enforce a requirement for US citizens to file yearly reports on their non-US financial accounts. “This allows us to work together to ensure that financial institutions here in Grenada can help… – Continue reading
A BALANCING ACT in London, folly and redemption in America’s District of Columbia and sheer hypocrisy in Brussels. And in every case, Barbados and many of its Caribbean neighbours were placed in the negative international spotlight at a time when some of the world’s major financial centres are casting about… – Continue reading
Caribbean nations have long served as tax havens for the world’s economic elite, with many offering so-called economic citizenship where, for large payments, one can simply buy citizenship in their countries. That can save the 1 percent a pretty penny. Overseas tax evasion costs the U.S. government as much as… – Continue reading
Following an agreement between the UK and Jersey, HMRC has published an important change of interpretation on residence for treaty purposes. HMRC’s view now is that the better interpretation of residency article in the UK-Jersey Double Tax Agreement 1952 (“UK Jersey DTA”) is that it includes a tie breaker provision… – Continue reading
We have on several occasions fingered Panama as a particularly recalcitrant secrecy jurisdiction: our recent Panama Narrative Report spills a fair number of beans in that respect. Its recalcitrance is perhaps hardly surprising, given the quantity of Colombian and Mexican drugs money believed to be sheltered there – to name… – Continue reading
Thirteen jurisdictions signed the OECD Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement (MCAA) at a meeting on October 29-30, 2015, in Barbados. In joining the MCAA, the territories commit to automatically exchange tax information with other nations’ tax authorities under the OECD’s new tax information exchange standard, the Common Reporting Standard. A total… – Continue reading
HMRC has reached an agreement with Jersey concerning the interpretation of the company residence tie-breaker in the Jersey-UK 1952 double tax agreement. This change also affects the interpretation of 15 other double tax agreements (DTAs) which have identical or very similarly worded company residence tie-breakers. The issue concerns dual residents… – Continue reading
On November 30, 2015, the UK tax authorities at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) reached an agreement with Jersey about the interpretation of the company residence tie-breaker provision of the Jersey-UK income tax treaty. After reviewing other income tax treaties that contain similar provisions, HMRC will now take the view… – Continue reading
UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced a change of view on the interpretation of the company residence articles in 16 double taxation agreements (DTAs), reports Tax News. The change was prompted by an agreement with Jersey on the interpretation of the company residence tie-breaker article in… – Continue reading
UK tax authority HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has announced a change of view on the interpretation of the company residence articles in 16 double taxation agreements (DTAs). The change was prompted by an agreement with Jersey on the interpretation of the company residence tie-breaker article in their 1952 DTA…. – Continue reading
The timely and effective implementation of the automatic exchange of tax information was a key theme during the Oct. 29-30 meeting of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes held in Bridgetown, Barbados. The meeting, which brought together delegates from the Global Forum’s 128 member… – Continue reading
Major implementation milestones are being met by members of the world’s leading forum on tax transparency as the international community continues to move ahead towards greater tax transparency. The imminent shift to the automatic exchange of information will send a strong warning to tax evaders. Significant strides towards a major… – Continue reading
Barbados’ reputation as a home of “serious” business and a “significant” player in international business is being enhanced with the adoption of a United States law which targets non-complaint US taxpayers with foreign accounts, Minister of International Business Donville Inniss has contended. In fact, Inniss suggested that the Foreign Accounts… – Continue reading
BRITISH taxpayers forked out £45million in foreign aid spending to countries classed as tax havens in just one year, it emerged today. Nations such as Belize, Marshall Islands, Seychelles and Vanautu – which are all included on a European Commission ‘blacklist’ of international tax havens – have all received cash… – Continue reading
The Swiss Federal Council has adopted a dispatch on the implementation of tax information exchange agreements with Belize and Grenada. The Council adopted the dispatch on October 7. It will now be submitted to Parliament for approval. The TIEAs were signed with Grenada on May 19 and with Belize on… – Continue reading
Millions of pounds of British aid money could have been given to known tax havens to fund public services The UK paid out £45m to 13 countries on the European Commission’s tax haven “blacklist” in 2013, according to a report in The Independent. The blacklisted countries that received British aid… – Continue reading
BY DAVID JESSOP— The Caribbean has just 18 congressional working days from Sunday, September 20 to try to have the U.S. Congress address an act naming 17 Caribbean nations as “tax havens”. If passed without amendment, it could have the effect of reputationally damaging the countries concerned with unpredictable trade,… – Continue reading
A former financial services minister yesterday branded as “inconsequential” concerns over the District of Columbia’s (DC) pending ‘tax haven’ blacklisting of the Bahamas and 16 other Caribbean nations. Ryan Pinder, now a senior executive at Deltec Bank & Trust, was responding to concerns raised by Opposition finance spokesman, K Peter… – Continue reading
The Caribbean has just 18 congressional working days from Sunday September 20 to try to have the US Congress or the District of Colombia address an act naming 17 Caribbean nations as “tax havens”. If passed without amendment it could have the effect of reputationally damaging the countries concerned with… – Continue reading
Kenneth Leung (PC,F-Accountancy) explains what he – and the government – are doing to get Hong Kong off the EU’s undeserved blacklisting as a “non-cooperative tax jurisdiction”. Why has Hong Kong been placed on this list? There are ten European countries that have named Hong Kong as a tax haven…. – Continue reading
The OECD has backed Guernsey in its fight against tax haven status, describing the crown dependency’s inclusion on the European Commission’s list of top 30 non-compliant tax jurisdictions as “very surprising”. Monica Bhatia, head of the secretariat of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Global Forum on Transparency and… – Continue reading
Leaders of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) have ended a meeting in Grenada criticising the European Union over its decision to blacklist several Caribbean countries as tax havens. In addition, the leaders of Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, St Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, Montserrat, St Kitts… – Continue reading
The Caribbean Community (CARICOM) issued a statement on Thursday to “strongly” oppose a recent blacklisting of its members as “non-cooperative” tax jurisdictions by the European Union (EU). The list published last week named 14 Caribbean states and territories, including Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Grenada, St. Vincent and… – Continue reading
The countries’ leaders say the label is doing untold damage to their reputations, reports The Voice. A number of Caribbean prime ministers have said the blacklisting by the European Union (EU) is unacceptable and they will not take the move lightly. The Union’s European Commission said the countries were singled… – Continue reading
The Bahamas was yesterday “dumped on” through its inclusion on another so-called financial services ‘blacklist’, although an ex-Attorney General and others suggested the development should be taken “with a big grain of salt”, reports the Bahamas Tribune. John Delaney told Tribune Business that the European Union’s (EU) decision to ‘blacklist’… – Continue reading
St. Kitts and Nevis is one of 30 countries placed on the European Union’s black list for not doing enough to fight tax evasion. The EU’s executive Commission published the list Wednesday (June 17). The blacklisted countries figure on at least ten of the EU’s 28 member nations’ lists of… – Continue reading
Critics of an EU tax-haven blacklist say the organisation is playing dice with small states’ reputations, while ignoring European tax avoidance hubs BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, June 19, 2015 (AMG) — Doubts have been cast over the methodology and motives behind the naming of fourteen Caribbean countries among a list of thirty… – Continue reading
Government appeared to brush off the latest blacklisting of the Cayman Islands when it released a short statement on Wednesday at around 5pm following revelations by the EU that the jurisdiction had been cited as facilitating tax evasion, reports the Cayman News Service. “It is unfortunate that the EU black… – Continue reading
The European Union: Labelled Bermuda as a tax haven Bermuda has been named by the European Union as a country that is not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance. The Island was one of 30 countries on the list published by the EU’s executive Commission today. “These tax… – Continue reading
The European Union has published its first list of international tax havens as part of a crackdown on multinational companies trying to avoid paying tax in the 28-nation bloc. The list of 30 territories includes Hong Kong and Brunei in Asia, Monaco, Andorra and Guernsey in Europe, and a series… – Continue reading
Tax Information Exchange Agreement Signed On 19 May 2015, Switzerland and Grenada signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement. Each country shall notify the other, in writing, of the completion of the procedures required by its law for the bringing into force of the Agreement. The Agreement shall enter into force… – Continue reading
Cross border tax fraud and tax evasion by High Net Wealth Individuals (HNWI) are serious problems for many jurisdictions. For many years exchange of information between countries has been solely upon request. In practise this procedure is not efficiently working as it requires foreseeable relevance, thus ‘fishing’ for information is… – Continue reading
Citizenship has been turned into a commodity by countries including Cyprus, Grenada, Antigua, Malta and St. Kitts in the Caribbean, which is now the most popular place in the world to buy a passport – for as little as $250,000. The draw? Little or no tax. New citizens of St…. – Continue reading
Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) has been in force for a month and still more countries are joining the tax network. So far, 101 countries and financial jurisdictions have either signed or agreed to join FATCA. FATCA is aimed at identifying US taxpayers with offshore bank accounts and investments. Overseas… – Continue reading
ST. GEORGE’S, GRENADA, Tuesday April 1, 2014: The Member Governments of the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union (ECCU) have commenced discussions with the United States of America (US) towards executing an Inter-Governmental Agreement (IGA) for the implementation of the provisions of the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). On 18… – Continue reading
