Thursday, June 18, 2009Cayman Signs TIEA With UK

Cayman Net NewsCayman Islands & UK Sign Taxation Agreement

Representatives from the Cayman Islands government on Tuesday, 16 June signed a double taxation agreement (DTA) with the UK during a ceremony at HM Treasury in London.

The DTA, which is another type of bilateral tax agreement, is the first of its kind to be signed by the Cayman Islands and protects against the risk of an individual or a corporate entity being taxed twice on the same earnings.

Signing the agreements on behalf of the UK was Financial Secretary to the Treasury, The Right Hon Stephen Timms MP and, for the Cayman Islands, Leader of Government Business/Premier Designate and Minister for Financial Services, Hon McKeeva Bush.

“We are very pleased to sign this agreement with the United Kingdom today as part of the Cayman Islands’ continued commitment to high standards of international cooperation and transparency,” Mr Bush said.

Mr Timms said, “Information exchange is a vital tool in ensuring that Governments receive the revenues they need to resource the essential public services on which we all depend. I would like to congratulate the Cayman Islands Government for signing up to an arrangement which includes unprecedented provisions for tax information exchange that meet international standards of transparency.”

The Cayman Islands delegation, which was led by Mr Bush and H.E the Governor Stuart Jack, also included the Minister of District Administration, Works and Gender Affairs Hon Juliana O’ Connor-Connolly, Chief Secretary Hon George McCarthy, Financial Secretary Hon Kenneth Jefferson, Chief Officer for the Ministry of Financial Services Carson Ebanks, Senior Assistant Secretary Michelle Bahadur, Senior Political Assistant Richard Parchment, Cayman Islands Monetary Authority’s General Counsel/Deputy Managing Director Langston Sibblies, and consultant Paul Byles.

The Cayman Islands maintains nine bilateral tax information agreements with the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

“This is a positive step forward in ensuring the Cayman Islands’ commitment to achieving the OECD’s requirement for a minimum of twelve agreements,” said a press release from the Ministry of Financial Services, Tourism & Development.

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