BVI signs OECD model agreements with nordic states

(25/05/09)

The British Virgin Islands government announced a recent signing of bilateral tax information exchange agreements with six Nordic countries, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden at the Icelandic Embassy in Copenhagen, Denmark, on May 18.

The OECD model agreements will allow for the exchange of information in tax matters in both civil tax matters and where there is concrete proof a perpetuation of a tax crime.

BVI Minister of Health and Social Development Dancia Penn concluded agreements for the avoidance of double taxation with the Nordic group on behalf of the British Virgin Islands. The agreements hope to boost trade and investment between the respective countries by removing double taxation and setting up a beneficial legal framework.

The government has also announced that it is to sign agreements for the exchange of information in tax matters with France and New Zealand in the near future, moving the jurisdiction closer to a place on the OECD’s white list of fully compliant territories.