The UK government has signed a tax information exchange agreement with the Netherlands Antilles, allowing both tax authorities to request tax information based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's model convention, reports Tax-News.

The TIEA will cover all the islands and will allow the UK tax authority, HM Revenue and Customs, to obtain data from the Netherlands Antilles relating to income tax, wages tax, profit tax and surtaxes on income and profit tax.  

The agreement will extend to all those involved in financial services in the Netherlands Antilles and under the terms of the agreement, HMRC can seek information relating to "the ownership of companies, partnerships, trusts, foundations, 'Anstalten' and other persons; in the case of trusts, information on settlors, trustees and beneficiaries; and in the case of foundations, information on founders, members of the foundation council and beneficiaries; and equivalent information in the case of entities that are neither trusts nor foundations," according to the publication.

The agreement, which was signed on 10 September 2010, will enter into force following ratification procedures.