The British Virgin Islands announced today that Premier and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal, OBE has signed, in Paris, a bilateral Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) on behalf of the Virgin Islands (UK) with the French Republic.
Premier O’Neal said he was pleased that the BVI is strengthening its relationship with France, noting *“the tax information exchange agreement is part of a joint commitment by the BVI and France to advance the global efforts for cooperation, transparency and effective exchange of information on tax matters.”*
The French Secretary of State in charge of Budget, Public Accounts and the Civil Service, Hon. Éric Woerth, said the agreement was *“further evidence of the British Virgin Islands’ willingness to implement the OECD principles of transparency and exchange of information.”* He additionally commented that *“the implementation of this agreement will have a favourable impact on the British Virgin Islands in relation to the application of specific French tax provisions based on an effective exchange of information criterion.”*
A release from the Government’s Department of Information and Public Relations pointed out that today’s signing culminates the bilateral negotiations between the Virgin Islands (UK) and the French Republic, which started in 2005 in the BVI and continued in France in 2007.
The signing brings to 11 the number of TIEAs that the BVI has signed to date. Within the coming months, and the Premier has noted that the Territory expects to sign agreements with several other countries.