On April 6th-7th Senator Nick Sherry, Assistant Treasurer of Australia, announced the signing of TIEA agreements with The Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Monaco, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. With the signing ceremonies complete, the TIEAs will be implemented upon the completion of legal ratification by both signatories. The new agreements raise Australia’s TIEA total to 22.

Explaining Australia’s pursuit to expand its TIEA network, Nick Sherry said, “As Chair of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information, Australia is playing a leading role in the international effort to combat harmful tax competition.” Australia is currently participating in peer-review process sanctioned by Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) which is aimed at gauging the progress and effectiveness of international efforts to implement previously signed TIEAs.

The documents for all of Australia’s TIEA agreements can be found on the Australian Treasury website.

Photo by Pascal Vuylsteker

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 TIEA was signed in a London ceremony at the Commonwealth Office by Andrew Allen, the Acting Director Overseas Territories Directorate Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and The Honourable Royal Robinson, Deputy Premier and Minister for Health and Finance of the Turks and Caicos Islands.

The Tax Information exchange Agreement creates a means by which an extensive range of information can be requested by a government from the corresponding signing government. The agreement is based on the TIEA forms created by the OECD Global Forum Working Group on Effective Exchange of Information (“the Working Group”). They aim to promote harmonious international co-operation on tax matters through information exchange.

Before the TIEA can come into effect they first have to be ratified by both Governments. The UK side of the agreement is already Schedule to a draft Order in Council for consideration by the House of Commons. Similar steps have been taken by the Turks & Caicos Islands government, who signed TIEAs with the Netherlands and Ireland on the same day. This is the eighth TIEA for the United Kingdom, and the first for Turks & Caicos Islands.

The agreement is available on the HM Revenue & Customs website, here.