Finance Minister Comments On Tax Haven List
The Deputy Premier and Minister of Finance Bob Richards today [Aug 28] commented on a report that Bermuda has been named to a new tax haven list drawn up by the District of Columbia in the US.
While such changes would first have to be reviewed by the US Congress before becoming law, the Minister stated, “As we recently told the European Commission, Bermuda is fully cooperative through tax information exchange agreements.
“The United Nations and the World Trade Organisation consider domestic taxation laws to be the sovereign right of nations and jurisdictions, regardless of whether they are based on consumption or income.”
The Minister added, “Bermuda has had a Tax Information Exchange Agreement [TIEA] with the United States since the U.S.A. – Bermuda Tax Convention Act 1986. It’s our oldest TIEA and possibly one of the world’s first such agreements.”
He recalled an address from a US Treasury Acting International Tax Counsel John Harrington to the Senate Finance Committee on Offshore Tax Evasion in May 2007, in which Mr. Harrington had accolades for Bermuda for providing valuable assistance to the US under the treaty.
The Minister also stated, “When I signed the USA/Bermuda FATCA agreement in the Bermuda Senate Chamber in December 2013, the then US Council General to Bermuda, Robert Settje, responded to a journalist that the US Government did not consider Bermuda to be a tax haven.”
Minister Richards said, “In fact, Bermuda enjoys the same very good OECD rating – “Largely Compliant” – as does the US.”
Ministry officials said they are monitoring the developments in Washington.
