OECD adds Bermuda to "white list"

Date: Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Author: Hedgeweek.com

Following Bermuda's signing of its 12th Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the Netherlands, the OECD has updated its progress report to include Bermuda with other jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard.

Bermuda's Minister of Finance, Paula A. Cox, says Bermuda has worked assiduously to strengthen worldwide tax cooperation.

'Bermuda wholeheartedly endorsed the OECD's objective and is especially pleased to note that the April 2 progress report - or 'gray list' - has now been updated and that Bermuda is now included in the revised 'white list,' she says. 'We will now continue to build upon our long-standing position of transparency and cooperation which has, through the years, differentiated Bermuda from other jurisdictions.'

Bermuda has now signed 12 TIEAs with the US, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and the Netherlands.

Bermuda has concluded negotiations with Canada, Germany and Mexico and is at an advanced stage of negotiations with Japan. Signing dates are being arranged with Germany, Mexico, and Canada, following the conclusion of their ratification processes.

Cox says the government of Bermuda is closing in on its goal to have TIEAs in place with all G7 countries and with other internationally significant trading and commerce partners.