As announced back in July, the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (Global Forum) has published compliance ratings for 50 countries and jurisdictions based, they say, on practical implementation of its information exchange standard.
The Bahamas was rated “Largely Compliant” overall, having implemented 8 of the 10 standards in a fully compliant manner, with 2 standards rated “largely compliant”. BFSB CEO Aliya Allen said, *“This comes in follow up to the favourable Phase 2 Peer Review midyear, and affirms our commitment to be a responsible member of the international community. The Bahamas is living up to its commitments as it relates to the exchange of information, access to information and availability of information.”*
The ratings were announced at the [6th Meeting ](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/news.php?cmd=view&id=3234&pre=y)of the Global Forum held in Jakarta, Indonesia on November 21-22, 2013.
Global Forum Reviews fed into the ratings assigned to the 50 jurisdictions, backing G20 and Global Forum efforts to strengthen tax cooperation. The Forum assesses the adequacy of legal and regulatory framework for exchange of information in tax matters (Phase 1 Review) as well as the application of this framework (Phase 2 Review). To date, 124 peer reviews have been completed, including 50 Phase 2 reviews.
The Report on the [Phase 2 Review](https://bfsb-bahamas.com/news.php?cmd=view&id=3202&pre=y) of The Bahamas was released in July 2013. At that time, the Global Forum acknowledged that The Bahamas *“has broad powers to gather relevant information and these have been exercised successfully to gather information for EOI purposes”.* Additionally, the Report concluded that the Competent Authority in The Bahamas *“is well organised with adequate internal processes in place for handling EOI requests.”* The Global Forum acknowledged The Bahamas as an important and reliable EOI partner. BFSB’s CEO Aliya Allen commented then, *“We have made huge strides in the last few years in refining the administrative framework to make sure we are able to respond to requests pursuant to Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) obligations”*. The Bahamas Government, on the release of the Phase 2 Review also had noted that the Forum’s findings *“confirm the effective practical implementation of the standards for transparency and exchange of information”*. It pledged its “continued commitment” to the OECD Peer Review process and international standards for financial services and cross-border co-operation.