THE Chief Minister this afternoon held a press conference in the wake of David Cameron’s letter to the Manx government and all of Britain’s other Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
Allan Bell MHK said he welcomed the letter from the British Prime Minister.
David Cameron called on the jurisdictions to work with the United Kingdom on tax transparency.
In his letter, issued ahead of next month’s G8 summit which will be hosted by the Northern Ireland, the Prime Minister says he respects the right of jurisdictions to have lower tax, but this is only sustainable if tax owed is actually paid.
In terms of rules to enforce payment the UK is seeking ‘a level playing field right across the world’, with the goal of a global standard in tax transparency.
Mr Cameron also calls for improvement in the quality and accuracy of information exchanged between countries, to identify the beneficial ownership of companies. The Isle of Man already has a legal regime in place to ensure that this information is available to the authorities.
Mr Cameron’s letter is published in full at the end of this story.
{http://www.iomtoday.co.im/news/isle-of-man-news/get-house-in-order-cameron-tells-offshores-1-5690993|Click here to read yesterday’s story about this issue.}
The Chief Minister said: ‘As far as the Isle of Man is concerned Mr Cameron is pushing at an open door. We are well ahead with this agenda and fully support the level playing field objective as a fairer and more effective solution for governments and business.’
‘As I said in a letter to the Prime Minister at the beginning of this month, having a single global compliance standard will lead to far greater tax transparency while minimising costs for business and government.’
Mr Bell continued: ‘In that same letter I explained that establishing the ultimate beneficial ownership behind all account and business relationships conducted by financial intermediaries is a mandatory legal requirement here, backed by onsite regulatory supervision in order to ensure compliance.
‘The Isle of Man is one of the few countries in the world to have such a regime on beneficial ownership, and we will be happy to share our experience in this regard.’
The Chief Minister noted that Mr Cameron’s letter also sought commitment to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters, which aims to include poor developing countries within tax information exchange networks. Mr Bell said the island was already on record as seriously considering signing up to the Convention, and was looking at ways to progress this. He added that the Isle of Man was involved with developing countries through its international development work and its pioneering Small Countries Financial Management Programme, in which the island shares its financial expertise with small governments around the world.
More on this story in Thursday’s Manx Independent
Mr Cameron’s letter was sent to Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, Montserrat, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man.
We have reproduced it here:
As you know, I have made fighting the scourge of tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance a priority for the G8 Summit which the UK is hosting next month. With one month to go, this is the critical moment to get our own houses in order. I am looking to all the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to continue to work in partnership with the UK in taking the lead on two critical issues: tax information exchange and beneficial ownership.
Let me set out exactly why. I have said before that I want to see the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies flourish, and I respect your right to be lower tax jurisdictions. I believe passionately in lower taxes as a vital driver of growth and prosperity for all. But lower taxes are only sustainable if what is owed is actually paid - and if the rules to achieve this are set and enforced fairly to create a level playing field right across the world. There is no point in dealing with tax evasion in one country if the problem is simply displaced to another.
So I very much welcome the commitments you have made to automatic tax information exchange, both on a bilateral and multilateral basis, which will help us to reach our goal of setting a global standard in tax transparency. There is a critical mass building. Last week’s European Finance Ministers meeting showed that the EU is getting on board. And I hope others around the world will follow the lead we are setting together.
We also need to ensure information exchange works effectively for all, particularly the poorest countries in the world. That is why we strongly support the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters. I know many of you have been considering joining and I ask you all to commit to do so in the run-up to the G8 Summit.
But dealing with tax evasion is not just about exchanging information. It is also about improving the quality and accuracy of that information. Put simply, that means we need to know who really owns and controls each and every company. This goes right to the heart of the ambition of Britain’s G8 to knock down the walls of company secrecy.
Some of you have already led the way with public commitments to produce Action Plans on beneficial ownership - and I hope those who have yet to can do so as quickly as possible. Getting the right content in these plans will now be critical. These will need to provide for fully resourced and properly managed centralised registries, that are freely available to law enforcement and tax collectors, and contain full and accurate details on the true ownership and control of every company.
As we continue our negotiations over the coming weeks, I look forward to working with you to ensure we fully meet the spirit as well as the letter of the Financial Action Task Force standards on beneficial ownership. The UK is hosting a high level event on 15 June to showcase progress on tax, trade and transparency, and I hope you can join us on the day to showcase the progress you have made. This is a real opportunity to set the global standard on transparency - and I am confident the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will rise to the challenge.
David Cameron