Singapore’s Minister for Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, and Minister for the Budget, Public Accounts, Civil Service and State Reform of France, Mr Eric Woerth met today in Singapore.
A release from the Ministry of Finance reported that in order to enhance tax cooperation, both Ministers agreed that Singapore and France will work expeditiously to sign a Protocol to incorporate the internationally agreed Standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes in the existing bilateral DTA between the two countries later this year.
The Ministers agreed that a multilateral, transparent and impartial framework would be necessary to drive and monitor the implementation of the agreed standard for the exchange of information for tax purposes by all jurisdictions, whether onshore or offshore.
Singapore has indicated its commitment to the new standard for the exchange of information and its has said that it would aim to introduce draft legislative amendments by the middle of 2009 as part of its annual Income Tax Act amendment cycle. Once the legislative amendments are passed in parliament, Singapore is prepared to negotiate and conclude double tax agreements that will enable it to provide further assistance for the exchange of information.