Barbados’s Minister of International Business and International Trade, George Hutson has noted the efforts made by the government to meet international standards to ensure the continued growth of the country as an international financial centre.
Hutson made the comments speaking to the international business community at a lecture and panel discussion entitled Regional Tax Treaties and Tax Information Exchange Agreements and OECD Standards, at the Law Faculty of the University of the West Indies.
According to Hutson, new agreements negotiated between Barbados and other nations should see markedly better feedback this year than was received last year in terms of the rating received by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in its assessment of how Barbados legislates for tax transparency and how its tax information systems operate in practice.
The Minister explained that one criticism by the Forum was that Barbados had not signed any tax information exchange agreements (TIEA) with other countries.
“Since then, we have signed TIEAs with Denmark and its administrative dependants… and we are in the process of negotiating a TIEA with Germany, which had objected to us progressing beyond phase one,” he said, adding that negotiations are ongoing with South Africa and France to create similar arrangements.
Hutson further disclosed that the government had also reviewed existing agreements with the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden to ensure conformity with international tax standards.
He added that the CARICOM Multilateral Convention on Double Taxation was also being amended to ensure its tax information clauses were in compliance with international best practices.
This multilateral convention covers 11 countries: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, St Lucia and Trinidad and Tobago.
(Source http://www.tax-news.com/news/Barbados_Works_To_Defend_International_Image____53433.html)
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