On 29 October 2014, 51 countries formally signalled their commitment to the Common Reporting Standard ("CRS") by signing a multilateral competent authority agreement to automatically exchange information based on Article 6 of the OECD's Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.
The significance of this event was demonstrated by the
participation of 39 ministers (including those from the Isle of
Man, Cayman Islands, Jersey, BVI, Gibraltar, Malta) in the signing
ceremony, the largest gathering of ministers to take joint action
to address tax evasion.
The competent authority agreement is a multilateral framework
agreement, with the subsequent bilateral exchanges coming into
effect between those signatories that file the subsequent
notifications under Section 7 of the agreement.
The agreement specifies the details of what information will be
exchanged and when, as set out in the CRS.
The Isle of Man has committed to delivering its first information
exchange under this new regime by September 2017, a move mirrored
by the other major offshore financial centres.
Automatic exchange of information also on its way for the EU
Earlier this month, EU finance ministers agreed to revise the
Administrative Cooperation Directive, with the effect that full
automatic exchange of information will be required for EU Member
States by 2017.
The amendment to the Directive, which brings into effect the
requirements of the OECD's CRS, will see information being
automatically exchanged on interest, dividends and other
income as well as account balances and sales proceeds from
financial assets. It will also see plans to amend the EU Savings
Tax Directive (EUSD) being shelved and indeed the likely repeal of
the EUSD.
The amendment has been welcomed by various EU bodies as a standard
setter for EU Member States and international partners in relation
to tax transparency.
DQ's Expertise
DQ is a leading law firm based in the Isle of Man advising on Isle of Man and BVI law. It has a specialist team with extensive experience of advising clients in relation to international tax, securities and criminal investigations, TIEA requests and multi-jurisdiction insolvencies in the Isle of Man and the BVI.
For more information on BVI investigations or disclosure
requests, please contact head of DQ's BVI law practice, Stephen Dougherty.
To discuss any element of your procedures or arrangements for
automatic exchange of information compliance, including FATCA and
CRS, please contact DQ's head of regulatory & compliance
services, Sinead O'Connor.
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