Antigua joins others on OECD white list

A statement from the Antigua and Barbuda government said this represents the country’s commitment to fully meeting international standards in transparency and exchange of information relating to tax matters. (File photo)

ST JOHN’S, Antigua, December 24, 2009 – Antigua & Barbuda is the latest Caribbean country to be moved off the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) “grey list”.

The signing of one Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with the Government of Ireland and another with Belgium within recent days, has sealed the deal for the Eastern Caribbean country.

It has now signed the minimum 12 TIEAs required to get it on to the “white list”.

A statement from the Antigua and Barbuda government said this represents the country’s commitment to fully meeting international standards in transparency and exchange of information relating to tax matters.

A few days ago, the Turks and Caicos Islands also moved up the OECD rankings.

Meantime, other Caribbean countries are still working at it. Among them is St Kitts and Nevis is more than halfway to meeting the requirements.

The government’s signing with Belgium brings to eight the number of TIEAs which it has completed.

Other agreements have already been signed with Monaco, New Zealand, The Netherlands, The Netherlands Antilles, Aruba, Denmark, and Liechtenstein.

The government said it has already initialed nine others with the six Nordic countries and the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. It is awaiting dates for the signing of those agreements.

The TIEA 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.