Monday, December 7 – The Government of the Virgin Islands took a further step today in its relations with the Government of Ireland by signing a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with that country.
Premier and Minister of Finance Honourable Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE signed the agreement in London today with Ireland’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, His Excellency, Mr. Bobby Mc Donagh. It is the 16th such agreement the BVI has signed.
The TIEA is based on a model agreement developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). It allows the signing parties to request information from each other that is relevant to a tax investigation. As provided in the agreement, such information would typically relate to bank accounts or the beneficial ownership of companies or trusts.
In a joint statement, the BVI and Ireland stated that the agreement represents a milestone in relations between the two Governments and that both are committed to examining other areas of mutual co-operation and benefit.
Honourable O’Neal specifically welcomed Ireland’s commitment to the Government of the Virgin Islands in its ongoing pursuit to fully implement the OECD standards of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters and its willingness to enter into Tax Information Exchange Agreements with OECD countries.
In April 2002, the British Virgin Islands committed to work with the OECD to develop these principles of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters. That same year, an OECD group, in which Ireland participated, developed the OECD Model Tax Information Exchange Agreement.
Inclusive of today’s agreement, the BVI has signed 16 TIEAs to date with Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Netherland Antilles and Aruba, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, France and the Nordic Alliance including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, The Faroes and Greenland.
Today’s agreement is the 10th of its kind for Ireland, that country having concluded its first TIEA last year with the Isle of Man. Ireland has signed similar agreements with Anguilla, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Liechtenstein and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Ireland fully supports the OECD work on transparency and effective exchange of information in tax matters and actively exchanges information with its tax treaty partners in full compliance with OECD standards.
Under the guidelines provided by the OECD and the new international tax standard emanating from the G-20 Summit in April this year, jurisdictions are required to sign at least 12 TIEAs.
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