The OECD announced today that Germany and Jersey have signed a bilateral arrangement for the exchange of information for tax purposes, bringing to 16 the number of such agreements signed since the beginning of 2007 by jurisdictions committed to work with OECD countries.
This is the third tax information exchange agreement entered into by Jersey, which has similar agreements with the Netherlands and the United States. The signing is significant because it reaffirms Jersey’s commitment to implementing international standards of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters. The OECD says it welcomes this move by Jersey which continues to negotiate agreements for exchange of information with a number of other OECD countries. In addition, Jersey has made a number of significant domestic law reforms which improve its capacity to obtain and exchange information for tax purposes and enhance its stature as a responsible international financial centre.
According to the news release, the OECD’s work in this area is designed to enable countries to fully and fairly enforce their tax laws. A total of 35 jurisdictions have committed to work with OECD countries under the auspices of the OECD’s Global Forum on Taxation to improve transparency and to establish effective information exchange for tax purposes. Many other countries and international organisations have also endorsed these principles. The Forum’s report, *”Tax co-operation: Towards a Level Playing Field – 2007 Assessment by the Global Forum on Taxation”*, shows that over the last year many jurisdictions have made progress in implementing high standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.