Antigua and Barbuda and Australia have signed a bilateral agreement on the exchange of information for tax purposes.
A release from the OECD notes that this *“marks another step forward in international efforts to implement the principles of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes on a global basis.”*
Paolo Ciocca, Chairman of the OECD’s Committee on Fiscal Affairs and Co-Chair of the Global Forum, welcomed the agreement as reinforcing the growing trend toward greater transparency and international co-operation in tax matters. *“I congratulate both parties for strengthening their bilateral relationship and for joining together to counter abuse of the financial system,”* Mr. Ciocca said in a statement. * “This is the first such agreement signed in 2007. I am confident that others will soon follow and that this is the start of a new phase in our work in which the principles we have developed are put into practice by all countries large and small.”*
The agreement was the second such arrangement entered into by Antigua and Barbuda, which signed a similar accord in 2000 with the United States. The OECD says Antigua and Barbuda became an important partner in its initiative to improve transparency and exchange of information in tax matters in 2002, when it committed to work with OECD countries on developing these principles and to implement measures to support them.