Guernsey signs FATCA agreement with USA

Posted: 13/12/2013

Guernsey's Chief Minister was joined by his Crown Dependency counterparts today in signing a FACTA agreement with the US Government.

The intergovernmental agreement was signed at the US Embassy in London with the US Ambassador to the UK. The agreement was concluded 48 hours after Guernsey's States of Deliberation gave its unanimous approval, and committed Guernsey to continuing to meet the highest standards of tax transparency.

Guernsey's Chief Minister, Deputy Peter Harwood, said:

"This is an important agreement for our finance sector. It gives them the long-term sustainability and stability that they have asked for clearly and consistently.

"This is a further step in the direction we have been travelling for a decade or more - that of leadership on tax transparency. FATCA is shaping the new global standards in information exchange; and once again Guernsey has shown its commitment to meeting those new global standards decisively and at the earliest possible juncture."

Deputy Harwood signed the agreement with the US Ambassador, HE Matthew Barzun. This comes a few weeks after an equivalent agreement was concluded with the UK, and two days after Guernsey's States Assembly also confirmed Guernsey's commitment to requesting that the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters be extended to Guernsey.

Deputy Harwood said:

"As I said in my statement to Guernsey's Assembly on Wednesday, signing the FATCA agreement is in our economic interests. Guernsey has been committed to exchanging tax information since it signed its first Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the US authorities in 2002. Today we have enhanced those arrangements, and in doing so we have further enhanced our reputation and our leadership position on tax transparency."

Deputy Harwood added: "It is also appropriate that I am accompanied today by Mike Brown, the outgoing Chief Executive of the States of Guernsey. Mike helped to bring about the commitment by the States of Guernsey to the original Tax Information Exchange Agreement with the US authorities in 2002 and has helped to steer the Island upon its subsequent course and commitment to tax transparency."

Fiona Le Poidevin, Chief Executive of Guernsey Finance - the promotional agency for the Island's finance industry, said:

"I am very pleased that Guernsey has signed this FATCA agreement with the US. It builds on the TIEA we have had with the US since 2002, our adoption of automatic exchange of information under measures equivalent to the EU Savings Tax Directive in 2011 and the package of tax measures we signed with the UK Government in October.

"The OECD has continually reaffirmed that Guernsey adopts international standards of tax transparency and exchange of information and this FATCA agreement with the US further demonstrates our continued fight against tax evasion."