Three new TIEA's with Caribbean region

November 02, 2009 5:51 AM

Minister Ersilia de Lannooy (Finances, PNP) has signed agreements for the exchange of tax information with Antigua and Barbuda, the Cayman Islands and St. Lucia yesterday. De Lannooy emphasized the importance for the Antilles (and for the Country Curaçao in the future) to pursue the cooperation and communal promotion of interest with nations in the Caribbean region.

“We currently have 22 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA’s) to regulate the exchange of tax information that could be relevant regarding tax levying and tax collection as well as the tracing and prosecuting of tax violations. Many of those TIEA’s have been signed with European countries that are mentioned on the white list with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), but it is wise to seek alliance with our own region. Such relations could yield various mutual advantages”, the minister stated.
The representatives of the three Caribbean countries concur that cooperation is a logical step, certainly in view of the agreements that relatively small nations have and the similar challenges these nations encounter – in particular as a result of the international financial crisis.
An efficient and equitable tax levying from the citizens of the treaty parties is therefore also favorable for the economical developments.

Tourism dependency
Solicitor-General Justin Simon, who had signed for Antigua and Barbuda, indicated that ‘united action is the best approach’. Referring to the tourism dependency of nearly all Caribbean countries, he stated that ‘if areas such as North America or Europe would sneeze, Caribbean countries would catch a cold’ and that it is essential to work in close conjunction with, and be co-operative amongst one another.
Solicitor-General Samuel Bulgin of the Cayman Islands and director Calixte Leon of Supervisory Financial Sector on St. Lucia concurred with Simon.

Compliance
The Antilles hope to sign TIEA’s with Argentine, Germany, England and France within short. Even though the number of TIEA’s – and the subsequent Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements (DTAA’s) – of the Antilles steadily increases, it is no longer of utmost importance for white listed nations.
“We are not inclined to think that the minimum of twelve TIEA’s with mainly white listed nations to acquire and retain a white listing with the OECD will be increased”, said the ad interim director Julian Lopez Ramirez of the Directorate Tax Affairs.
“The current issue will be the compliance of the contents in your legislation and in these agreements. The OECD will pursue this during the next three years, as recently agreed upon in Mexico.”
De Lannooy agreed that the signing of agreements was not the tailpiece but the linked responsibilities, which the Antilles will also have to bear. “If a treaty nation requests information, you should be able to provide such”. Tax experts and general economists are difficult to find for the government even though Lopez Ramirez had recently recruited two additional tax experts for Tax Affairs.
“Those who are attracted to fundamental statistics analysis and extremely accurate work regarding texts of laws and procedures could be of great value in this field. However, it definitely should be something one pursues so that he/she would do this with gusto every day” according to Lopez Ramirez.

(Source: national newspaper Amigoe)

30 October 2009