Bermuda Signs Tax Information Agreement with the Federal Republic of Germany

HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bermuda’s Minister of Finance the Hon. Paula A. Cox announced today that Bermuda had signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement, TIEA, with the Federal Republic of Germany. The bilateral agreement, which was signed at a ceremony at the German Embassy in London today, provides for a full exchange of information on criminal and civil tax matters between the two countries.

“We welcome the affirmation from Germany that Bermuda is not considered to be engaging in any harmful tax practices and are not now – nor have we ever been – a tax haven.“”

The German Ambassador, The Hon. Georg Boomgaarden, was in attendance to sign the agreement for Germany. This was the 13 ^th TIEA to be signed by Bermuda and was the culmination of years of preparatory work and negotiations held in 2008.

Minister Cox said that on June 8, 2009, Bermuda had signed its 12^th TIEA with the Netherlands – also in London - and so had become the first country to ascend from the OECD grey list to the white list.

The Minister said, with considerable pride, that the signing with Germany had included an exchange of letters that had contained the following statement by Germany:

“The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany welcomes the conclusion of the Agreement with the Government of Bermuda, which represents an important step in delivering the commitment it made to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2000 to respect the principles of transparency and exchange of information. The Government of the Federal Republic of Germany considers that the Agreement demonstrates Bermuda’s commitment to high standards for effective exchange of information with respect to both criminal and civil taxation matters. Germany also recognises the important progress that Bermuda has made in negotiation of Tax Information Exchange Agreements with other countries and recognises that Bermuda is committed to combating tax evasion by putting in place mechanisms which enhance transparency. By entering into the Agreement Bermuda is not considered to be engaging in any harmful tax practises and thus being not referred to as a tax haven.”

Minister Cox said Bermuda would continue to build upon the enormous benefits of being placed on the OECD white list and no longer named by the OECD as a tax haven. “We welcome the affirmation from Germany that Bermuda is not considered to be engaging in any harmful tax practices and are not now – nor have we ever been – a tax haven.“

In thanking German Ambassador, The Hon. Georg Boomgaarden, Minister Cox said that Bermuda’s objective was to conclude TIEAs with all of the G7 countries together with other important international trading and commercial partners. “With today’s signing, we have come a big step closer to our goal. We have underlined yet again Bermuda’s commitment to supporting the OECD initiative to implement standards of information exchange and transparency and we shall continue to work assiduously to strengthen worldwide tax cooperation," she said.