Guernsey has signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with
the UK.
The deal is seen as a symbolic throwing open of its doors by Guernsey to the UK’s tax authorities, at a time when there is growing international pressure for transparency in offshore centres.
Guernsey’s move was also seen as putting a
spotlight on Jersey, now the only one of Britain’s three Crown dependencies not to have such an agreement.
The UK also has TIEAs with the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda.
Jersey is in negotiations with the UK over such an agreement, although an announcement is not thought to be imminent.
Double taxation
The TIEA has brought to ten the number of such agreements Guernsey has entered into.
As part of the arrangement, it has also been agreed to amend the provisions of a 1952 arrangement that oversaw the avoidance of double taxation with respect to taxes on income, notably to add provisions on the taxation of income from pensions as well as a mutual agreement procedure.