Cayman and New Zealand sign TIEA
The Cayman Islands and New Zealand signed a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA). This TIEA is the 12th TIEA signed by the Cayman Islands. Signing the treaty, Cayman moved onto the white list of jurisdictions that have “substantially implemented” the internationally agreed tax standard set by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
According to the Cayman Islands’ Leader of Government Business/Premier Designate, McKeeva Bush, “For over 4 decades the Cayman Islands has steadily earned its place as a world-class international financial services center. The Cayman Islands Government sees the OECD’s recognition as a natural outcome of the country’s substantial commitment to uphold an equally world-class international cooperation regime in the exchange of tax information.”
Director of the OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, Jeffrey Owens, welcomed the signing and noted that the Cayman Islands extends its network of agreements and intends to implement them effectively and quickly.
New Zealand’s Revenue Minister, Peter Dunne, said that low-tax offshore financial centers want to achieve a sufficient number of TIEAs in order to allow them to be seen as meeting the OECD’s standards, so lately several TIEAs have been signed. For example, on July 21, New Zealand signed a TIEA with Guernsey, and on July 28, New Zealand signed a TIEA with Jersey. Also, the TIEAs were signed by New Zealand the British Virgin Islands and Gibraltar.