Netherlands Antilles, Aruba Meet White List TIEA Quota
LowTax.net
The Nordic countries – consisting of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, and the associated territories the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland – on September 11 signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles. The new agreements are 'part of a campaign led by the Nordic Council of Ministers to encourage greater efforts to prevent international tax evasion', according to Norden.
Norden states that 'the TIEAs will provide the tax authorities with access to all information about citizens who try to avoid paying tax on income and capital investments and who have undeclared assets in their home countries. The information covered includes details of the real ownership of companies, i.e. throughout the entire ownership chain, details of the founders, trustees and beneficiaries of trusts, and information held by banks and financial institutions'.
The TIEAs were signed at ceremonies at the Danish (Aruba) and Finnish (Netherlands Antilles) embassies in Paris. Similar deals have already been struck with the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey, the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, and the British Virgin Islands.
Denmark has recently signed agreements with Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Gibraltar, St Kitts and Nevis, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Turks and Caicos Islands. Other Nordic countries are scheduled to sign agreements with these states soon. The Faroe Islands also signed a treaty with San Marino on September 11. Negotiations continue with many other states.
The agreements mean that both Aruba and the Netherlands Antilles have satisfied the 12 TIEA quota defined at the G20 summit on April 2, placing them on the OECD’s white list of territories that have substantially implemented the agreement standard. Aruba, to date, has signed 12 agreements, whilst Netherlands Antilles has now concluded 15 agreements.
