May 02 - Gibraltar Government Powers Towards Tax Evasion Eradication
As an issue that is raised by many outside of Gibraltar, the Government has today declared that they are taking steps towards eradicating tax evasion in Gibraltar. They have insisted that they are committed to continuing work the UK Government, and the wider international community, on a new package on tax transparency.
The initiative was advocated within the Overseas Territories’ White Paper. A Government statement released this morning added, ‘the Gibraltar Government is confident that it already has in place a robust regime for the rooting out of tax evasion, particularly through its membership of the EU and full compliance with EU rules. It is committed to pursuing this agenda with the UK in agreement, and subject to consultation, with the finance industry in Gibraltar.’
They claim that tacking tax evasion and fraud is necessary to protect the integrity of public revenues, the confidence of taxpayers in the fairness and effectiveness of their tax systems and, public confidence in open global capital markets. Gibraltar already complies with all EU requirements in these areas.
Chief Minister Fabian Picardo will today write to Prime Minister David Cameron confirming Gibraltar’s position regarding tax evasion. He will highlight the fact that Gibraltar has now signed 26 Tax Information Exchange Agreements with OECD/ EU member states and is on the G20-instigated OECD ‘white list’.
As highlighted by the Chief Minister in his recent address to the Fabian Society in London, the Government believes that further to the increased attention given to tacking evasion and fraud over recent years, particularly through the development of international standards and the Peer Review process by the Global Forum, extra action may be considered necessary.
The action taken by the United States under its Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act gives a unique opportunity to develop a new global standard in the near future and from that to develop a system of multilateral automatic information exchange. Gibraltar has committed to enter the US FATCA and to enter into similar arrangements with the UK in accordance with the same timetable.
The Government has also noted that ‘Gibraltar is committed to taking forward this agenda together with other jurisdictions, to review the effectiveness of existing legal and enforcement framework and to produce an Action Plan, working closely with the UK as part of its G8 agenda, aimed at ensuring that Gibraltar forms part of a group of jurisdictions setting the standards in the context of establishing an international level playing field on this front.
