The Bahamas Government is engaged with the EU
With the European Union (EU) expected to issue a list of countries and territories that will be blacklisted as tax havens in under two weeks, the Bahamian government is “engaged” with the EU and “actively” managing any possibility of being listed, according to Executive Director of the Bahamas Financial Services Board (BFSB) Tanya McCartney.
McCartney said that The Bahamas does not want to be on that type of list, and to date, there is “clear evidence” of The Bahamas’ commitment to tax cooperation.
The Bahamas set to accede to multilateral tax convention
In May, the Ministry of Finance announced that the government formally indicated to the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) its interest in acceding to the multilateral convention for mutual assistance in tax matters.
The move is expected to help reduce the risk of the country being blacklisted.
But amid ongoing efforts by the government to strengthen its financial jurisdiction in terms of compliance, the country was recently implicated in another major financial documents leak, dubbed the “Paradise Papers”.
McCartney said, “The Paradise Papers, much like the Panama Papers, sought to paint all jurisdictions with the same brush, when in reality we are all different and we have to be assessed by the measures we take to adhere to international best practices.”
The Bahamas is committed to tax cooperation
She continued, “We seek to avoid The Bahamas being on any such adverse listing at all times.
“It is our desire to stay off such listings because of the risk that it poses to our reputation.
“We don’t want to be on any such listings.
“We know that the government is engaged with the EU and actively managing any possible listing.
“To date, there is clear evidence of The Bahamas’ commitment to tax cooperation.”
She added that the government is doing all that is within its power to ensure that The Bahamas is seen as “the cooperative and compliant jurisdiction that it is”.
Source: The Nassau Guardian
