Three of the UK’s key Crown Dependencies, Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man, announced in October last year their intention to implement FATCA based on the model Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) published on 26 July 2012.
However since then, the Isle of Man and now Guernsey have extended this to introduce agreements with the UK, based on the same tax sharing principles.
In a statement, Guernsey Finance – a body which represents the island’s financial interest, said the IGA will include alternative reporting arrangements for non-domiciled UK tax residents (non-doms); agreement to negotiate a revised Double Taxation Agreement; and agreement on a disclosure facility.
Both IGAs are subject to the proper decision making process of the Guernsey parliament, the States of Guernsey, and thus will be presented to the House for approval later this year.
Guernsey’s chief minister Peter Harwood, said: “Guernsey is fully committed to combating tax evasion and the principle of automatic exchange and our twin IGA approach to US / UK reporting will provide our industry with a very strong platform to compete on the world stage against weaker, less transparent and compliant jurisdictions.
“The agreement that we are working towards with the UK will be consistent with our belief that Guernsey’s long-term sustainable economic future is best served by safeguarding our position and reputation as a respected, well regulated, tax transparent jurisdiction. With such a UK agreement, automatic exchange under the EU Savings Directive and importantly an IGA arrangement with the US for FATCA now almost concluded, we believe Guernsey business will have both certainty and a competitive advantage.”
