Gibraltar gets on OECD tax information exchange 'white list'

(International Adviser/by Helen Burgraff) Gibraltar has joined the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development's so-called 'white list' with the signing of tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) on Tuesday with Finland, Greenland and te Faroe Islands. The British territory on the southern tip of Spain has now signed 13 such agreements, which set out the OECD's standards for the exchange of data between countries.>

TIEAs have recently become a focus of efforts by larger developed nations to crack down on tax evasion by their citizens and businesses.

In a statement, Gibraltar said it had “already negotiated and initialled several more [TIEAs]", which is said will be signed when the other countries involved "complete their internal constitutional procedures for doing so".

It added: "Our offer to sign a TIEA with whatever country wants to sign one with us remains open.”

G20: beyond TIEAs
At its most recent meeting in Pittsburgh last month, the G20 gave notice that it would begin to look at factors other than the number of TIEAs jurisdictions have signed.

G20 ministers are set to meet next on 6 and 7 November in St Andrews, Scotland.

The OECD also  considers other elements in addition to willingness to exchange information in determining whether a jurisdiction is a “tax haven”, including its levels of transparency and whether it has "little or no nominal tax on relevant income".

Although it has set 12 TIEAs with OECD member states as the minimum necessary for a jurisdiction to be regarded as having “substantially implemented” its standard, the OECD believes, as one official there recently put it, that “what matters is the ‘quality’ of the agreements, and this includes which countries they are with”.

According to the OECD’s website,  some 164 TIEAs have been signed since the first in December 2000, between the US and Antigua.  Of these, only 45 had been agreed before the beginning of this year, and 58 have been signed since 1 September.

'Not a numbers game'
In a statement announcing its new white-list status, Gibraltar stressed that it did not regard the signing of TIEAs as “a numbers game”.

It added: “we are committed to the  to the principles of the commitments that we gave.”

In addition to Finland, the Faroes Islands and Greenland, Gibraltar has now signed TIEAs with the UK, US, Ireland, Germany, New Zealand, Australia, Denmark, Austria, France and Portugal.

Other TIEAs signed in the last few days include Aruba with Bermuda; Mexico with Bermuda; and Ireland with Liechtenstein.