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OECD cocks a snook at EU tax blacklist
By backing Guernsey as a compliant tax jurisdiction, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development is quietly but publicly taking the European Union to task.
Pascal Saint-Amans, the OECD’s head of global tax policy, said yesterday: “Guernsey is in the leading group of jurisdictions who [sic] are active in the practical implementation of tax transparency and co-operation. Their adherence to the internationally accepted standards developed by the OECD means that there is clear and demonstrable criteria against which the OECD can consider them as a co-operative jurisdiction. The fact that Guernsey has been peer-reviewed as part of the Global Forum illustrates that other jurisdictions also consider Guernsey transparent and co-operative against those international standards.”
Monica Bhatia, his colleague, said: "I am very surprised that Guernsey has been included in a list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. We are very pleased with the cooperation Guernsey has shown as a very active member of the Global Forum."
Guernsey’s track record vis-à-vis "tax co-operation and transparency" includes the following.
- Its voluntary capitulation in the face of the EU Savings Directive and a move to exchanging information automatically in 2011, sending information relating to accounts held in Guernsey by individuals resident in EU countries automatically to their home jurisdictions each year.
- Voluntarily adhering to the principles of the Code of Conduct on Business Taxation, which came from ECOFIN, the Council of Economics and Finance Ministers, on 1 December 1997.
- Being part of the 'early adopter group' of the Common Reporting Standard on automatic exchange of information, after signing the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in October 2014.
- Being assessed by the OECD’s Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes as 'largely compliant' with the international standards on exchange of information on request – a rating that it shares with the UK, Germany and the USA.
- Being a party to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.
- Having 58 Tax Information Exchange Agreements (22 of them with EU Member States and 16 of them with the members of the G20) and 13 Double Taxation Agreements in place.
