Thursday 30 October 2014
Yesterday, Guernsey joined with 50 other countries and jurisdictions in confirming its formal agreement to a new global standard of automatic tax information exchange - the Common Reporting Standard.
The agreement was signed at the OECD Global Forum meeting by Guernsey's Director of Income Tax, Rob Gray, who was attending the Global Forum meeting.
Deputy Gavin St Pier, Minister for the Treasury & Resources Department said:
"Guernsey has always maintained that it is fully committed to meeting global standards on transparency and fairness in tax matters. Formally agreeing to the new global Common Reporting Standard is further demonstration of that. Given the steps that we have taken in recent years, this is perhaps a less significant step for Guernsey than it is for some of the others who signed yesterday, or those who are about to do so such as Switzerland, but it is nonetheless an important one.
"Guernsey committed to these standards in May 2013, when it was referred to as the 'G5 pilot'. It is welcome that many more jurisdictions have now agreed to the same standard, and that the Global Forum is working with other jurisdictions in order to encourage them to sign an equivalent agreement in the near future."
Rob Gray, Director of Income Tax, said:
"The role of the Global Forum will be important in establishing a mechanism to monitor and review the new global Common Reporting Standard. This includes the need to ensure confidentiality and the proper use of information exchanged."
ENDS
