Government Formally Indicates to OECD Interest in Acceding to Multi-Lateral Convention

May 29, 2017 / Comments Off on Government Formally Indicates to OECD Interest in Acceding to Multi-Lateral Convention

Industry News

With respect to the indication that The Bahamas government has formally advised the OECD of its intention to accede to the Multilateral Convention on the Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (“The Multilateral Convention”), we acknowledge that this approach is consistent with that taken by over 108 countries in The Global Forum, which address the risks to tax compliance posed by non-cooperative jurisdictions.

Industry stakeholders within the financial services sector have been collaborating very closely with the government on the implementation of The Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI) through a public-private sector CRS Task Force. The legislative framework was put in place for The Bahamas in 2016 to facilitate AEOI. As a responsible private sector, we will continue to be actively engaged with the government as it works to meet our 2018 commitment to effectively implement CRS by way of the Multilateral Convention.

We support the government taking the necessary steps to avoid adverse impact to The Bahamas as an international financial centre and to position this jurisdiction for sustainable growth and development over the long term.