Bermuda 'summoned' to London tax evasion summit

June 06, 2013 2:21 PM
HAMILTON, Bermuda - Bermuda and other British Overseas Territories (OTs) -- including five Caribbean islands -- have been summoned to a London summit this month as Prime Minister David Cameron seeks more transparency to end what he calls the “scourge of tax evasion”.
 
Cameron has warned Britain's OTs and Crown dependencies that he has made tax avoidance a priority of the G8 summit, which he is to host in Northern Ireland on June 17 and 18.
 
Bermuda rejects the notion that it is a tax haven and sources here said that Finance Minister Bob Richards is likely to be among senior ministers from Bermuda who will attend the summit.
 
Richards has said Bermuda is not to blame for companies such as Google using Bermudian subsidiaries to shelter billions of dollars from US and European tax authorities.
 
Google has come under fire from British lawmakers for channelling billions of dollars a year through an Irish subsidiary to a Dutch sister company which then passes the money to another affiliate in Bermuda.
 
Google's Bermudian subsidiary has no full-time staff and Richards said that such nameplate companies are not important to the island's economy.
 
Cameron has warned OTs of the need to "get our own houses in order".
 
Senior ministers from Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Anguilla, Montserrat, Turks and Caicos, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Gibraltar are expected to attend, sources said.
 
“Some of the islands and outposts are widely regarded as offshore tax havens, though they dispute this description and regard their low-tax regimes as vital to their economies,” one British newspaper reported.
 
“There is said to be disagreement in Whitehall about how much pressure to put on the islands, fearing excessive demands from London could lead to them refusing to co-operate.
 
“Mr Cameron is examining the idea of getting the tax havens to sign up to an OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) convention on the sharing of information on tax between countries, which is seen as a key to tackling evasion.”
 
Last month,  Cameron wrote to the Britain's OTs, including Bermuda, warning them that he had made fighting the scourge of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance’ a priority for the G8 summit.
 
‘I am looking to all the Overseas Territories and Crown dependencies to continue to work in partnership with the UK in taking the lead on two critical issues: tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.
 
“I respect your right to be lower tax jurisdictions. I believe passionately in lower taxes as a vital driver of growth and prosperity for all.
 
“But lower taxes are only sustainable if what is owed is actually paid — and if the rules to achieve this are set and enforced fairly to create a level playing field right across the world.
 
“There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another,” he added.
 
(Caribbean News)

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