The Isle of Man hopes to be removed from a blacklist after its commitment to share tax information bilaterally with Spain.

Following its Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Spain, signed on 3 December, the Isle of Man is hopeful it will be removed from the Mediterranean country's "tax haven blacklist" of jurisdictions.

TIEAs are agreements entered into by countries with the goal of co-operating with tax matters by exchanging information. The Isle of Man has signed a total of 30 such agreements but the last one it signed bilaterally was with the Czech Republic over four years ago. 

It has also signed 10 Double Taxation Agreements. DTAs are bilateral agreements between two countries that have the basic objective of avoiding the same income being taxed in both jurisdictions.

“Spain is both a member of the European Union and the OECD and last year, like the Isle of Man, was one of the first countries to commit to sharing information in accordance with the OECD Common Reporting Standard,” said the Isle of Man’s treasury minister, Eddie Teare, in a statement.

“The signing of this TIEA is another important step in building closer relations between our two countries and will lead to Spain removing the Isle of Man from a 'tax haven blacklist' established under Spanish law in 2006. This recognition of our shared values and goals makes the TIEA a very significant addition to the Isle of Man’s network of international tax agreements.”