Ireland’s Minister for Finance, Mr. Brian Lenihan T.D., today signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Bermuda.
The agreement will allow the Revenue Commissioners to request information which is relevant to an Irish tax investigation directly from the authorities in Bermuda. Information that would typically be relevant is bank account information and beneficial ownership information for companies and other entities established in Bermuda.
Minister Lenihan said *“I am very pleased to be able to sign this Tax Information Exchange Information with Bermuda. I welcome the commitment of Bermuda to implement the OECD standards of transparency and exchange of information in tax matters and their willingness to enter into tax information exchange agreements. The signing of this agreement represents a new chapter in relations between Ireland and Bermuda. Ireland fully supports the renewed efforts of the OECD on transparency and effective exchange of information on tax matters. Ireland has a system of full exchange of information and is fully in compliance with OECD standards. We agree that all countries and territories that have not yet committed to the OECD standards, including major financial centres should do so.*
*”Ireland has also signed Double Taxation Agreements (DTAs) with fifty-one countries. We are currently in negotiations with a number of countries and we would hope to have our network expanded to sixty DTAs by the end of the year.”*
This is the eighth TIEA that Ireland has signed, following the signing of agreements with the Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Anguilla, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.