Posted: 16 June 2009
Issue: Vol 163, Issue 4211
Categories: Update, News, Tax adviser, Double Taxation, Legal, Government, Overseas

Aim to facilitate info exchange that meets OECD standards

The UK has entered into a new double taxation arrangement (DTA) with the Cayman Islands.

The document is intended to facilitate tax information exchange that meets standards set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developments. It was signed by the financial secretary to the Treasury, Stephen Timms MP, and W McKeeva Bush, leader of government business for the Cayman Islands.

The text will in due course be laid as a schedule to a draft order in council for consideration by the House of Commons. It will then be available from the Stationery Office. The accord will enter into force as soon as both governments have completed the legislative procedures needed to give it effect.

The UK currently has 113 DTAs in force and has signed five comprehensive tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs), the most recent being those signed this year with Guernsey (January) and Jersey (March). More DTAs and TIEAs are under negotiation.

Mr Timms welcomed the new agreement with the Cayman Islands and praised the country’s administration for 'signing up to an arrangement [that] includes unprecedented provisions for tax information exchange that meet international standards of transparency'.

HMRC's permanent secretary for tax, Dave Hartnett, added: 'Information exchange enables us to confront effectively tax avoidance and money laundering while ensuring that we all make the right contribution to our public services'.

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