South Africa is set to sign tax information exchange agreements with six international financial centres as the country – like many others across the world – moves to clamp down on alleged tax evasion, according to Business Report.

The South African publication said the SA Revenue Service was poised to sign TIE agreements with Guernsey, Jersey, San Marino, the Cayman Islands, the Bahamas and Bermuda.

Ron van der Merwe, an official at the Revenue Service, was quoted as having said that further accords on tax information exchange are in the pipeline, but specifics as to which jurisdictions these might concern were not given.

The report said that while the the South African authorities could not provide current data on the amount of tax revenue it is losing due to citizens hiding assets in IFCs, a couple of years ago it had “conservatively” put the figure at R3 billion ($410 million) per year.

"We don't have an estimate because of the bank secrecy that has existed until now. We could never estimate the amount of money stowed away in tax havens or what potential revenue loss was," a spokesperson for the Revenue Service told the publication, adding that the picture would be clearer once the TIEAs are in place.