New figures from the BVIs’ Financial Services Commission (FSC) released on March 15th show that annual corporate renewal fees collection rose to more than USD 162.66 million in 2009, compared to USD 156.15 million in 2008. Despite the growing annual government corporate renewal fee collection, new-incorporations fee revenue dropped to USD17.22 million in 2009, compared to USD 22.47 million in 2008. The FSC’s released statistics show that the number of newly incorporated companies has been in decline since 2008. In 2007 77 022 registrations were seen, with each quarter exceeding 17 000 incorporations. The number of incorporations fell to 61 716 in 2008, and only the first quarter experienced registrations above 17 000, at 20 752. 2009 saw 12 307 new incorporations in the first quarter; 9 871 in the second quarter; 13 368 in the third quarter and 11 931 in the fourth quarter. For the first two months of 2010 new incorporation revenue collections were reported to be USD 4.58 million, and USD 10.58 million for annual renewals.

The Virgin Islands Shipping Registry (VISR) reported positive growth, revealing that vessel registrations for the first two months of 2010 had reached 56, compared to 41 for the same time period in 2009. Although the majority registrations were for pleasure vessels, Captain Baboucar Sallah, VISR Director, said, “…the prospects for larger vessels including general cargo ships, which will generate substantial revenue per unit, are good for 2010.”

Regardless of the fall in revenues, Ralph T. O’Neal, BVI Premier and Minister of Finance, said that Government revenues have not being too adversely affected, on account of strong re-registrations. He went on to say “…expectations for the Virgin Islands economy in 2010 are optimistic given the path recovery for the global economy.”

Photo by Banana Custard

The London G20 Summit, held on the 2nd of April this year, heralded an unprecedented wave of Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA). In what was described as “revolutionary” by Angel Gurría, OECD Secretary-General, the number of completed TIEAs has almost doubled since their inception in late 2000.
Since the G20 summit, and subsequent global push for greater tax transparency and compliance, the following 53 agreements have been signed.

United States – Monaco (8 September 2009)
Denmark – Turks & Caicos Islands (7 September 2009)
Netherlands – Antigua & Barbuda (2 September 2009)
Denmark – Gibraltar (2 September 2009)
Denmark – Anguilla (2 September 2009)
Germany – Liechtenstein (2 September 2009)
Netherlands – St Vincent & the Grenadines (1 September 2009)
Denmark – St Vincent & Grenadines (1 September 2009)
Denmark – St Kitts & Nevis (1 September 2009)
Netherlands – St Kitts & Nevis (1 September 2009)
Canada – Netherlands Antilles (29 August 2009)
United Kingdom – Gibraltar (27 August 2009)
Australia – Gibraltar (25 August 2009)
New Zealand – British Virgin Islands (14 August 2009)
New Zealand – Cayman Islands (14 August 2009)
New Zealand – Gibraltar (13 August 2009)
Germany – Gibraltar (13 August 2009)
United Kingdom – Liechtenstein (11 August 2009)
Monaco – San Marino (29 July 2009)
Bermuda – Ireland (28 July 2009)
New Zealand – Isle of Man (27 July 2009)
New Zealand – Jersey (27 July 2009)
United Kingdom – Turks & Caicos (23 July 2009)
Netherlands – Turks & Caicos (22 July 2009)
Netherlands – Anguilla (22 July 2009)
Ireland – Turks & Caicos (22 July 2009)
Ireland – Anguilla (22 July 2009)
New Zealand – Guernsey (21 July 2009)
UK – Anguilla (20 July 2009)
Belgium – Monaco (15 July 2009)
New Zealand – Cook Islands (9 July 2009)
Netherlands – Cayman Islands (8 July 2009)
Germany – Bermuda (3 July 2009)
Ireland – Gibraltar (24 June 2009)
Ireland – Cayman Islands (23 June 2009)
France – British Virgin Islands (17 June 09)
Australia – Jersey (10 June 2009)
The Netherlands – Bermuda (8 June 2009)
Denmark – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Faroes – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Finland – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Greenland – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Iceland – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Norway – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
Sweden – British Virgin Islands (19 May 2009)
New Zealand – Bermuda (17 April 2009)
Denmark – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Faroes – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Finland – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Greenland – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Iceland – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Norway – Bermuda (16 April 2009)
Sweden – Bermuda (16 April 2009)

Previous to these, 63 agreements had been signed, bringing the total at the 10th of September to 116.

The British Virgin Islands will soon join the ranks of 47 countries that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has deemed to have “substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standards”. The move comes with the signing of the 12th Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) for the British Virgin Islands, the partner of which was New Zealand.

At the signing ceremony, Ralph O’Neal, Premier of the British Virgin Islands, said “The conclusion of this TIEA demonstrates the commitment of both the BVI and the New Zealand governments to the OECD principles of transparency and effective exchange of information. We are delighted that, in signing this TIEA with New Zealand today, we are now on the OECD’s white list.”

Further, at the ceremony, Premier Ralph O’Neal commented that there will soon be a signed TIEA between the Netherlands and the British Virgin Islands, and also that the jurisdictions is also currently in negotiations with Ireland. Prior to signing this agreement, the British Virgin Islands held TIEA agreements with Australia, France, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, UK and the US.