The move follows the signing by Italy’s Minister of Economy & Finance Pier Carlo Padoan of amendments within the 2015 Finance Act, to exclude all countries from the list that have an adequate exchange of information with Italy.
Other jurisdictions reported to have been removed from the Italian blacklist since the amendments were introduced have included Bermuda and Mauritius.
“This is welcome news for the practitioners within our finance industry as it should open up some interesting opportunities across the finance sector but particularly within the private wealth sector,” said Sinéad Leddy, head of Technical at Guernsey Finance – the promotional agency for the Island’s finance industry internationally.
“The only disappointment is that it has taken so long for Italy to overcome some outdated prejudices and recognise the high standards of tax information exchange applied in Guernsey.”
Guernsey was among the first set of jurisdictions placed on the OECD ‘white list’ for exchange of information standards in 2009. A Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Italy was signed in September 2012 and came into force earlier this year.
“I’m pleased that this has now been recognised by the Italian tax authorities and we look forward to other jurisdictions following suit,” Leddy said.
“Guernsey has been participating in the OECD’s Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters (MAC) since August last year and in October 2014 Guernsey agreed to be among the first wave of jurisdictions to adopt the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard (CRS).
