Offshore News: October 2010
7.10.2010: The jurisdiction of the British Virgin Islands signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) with Germany. The agreement was signed in London, by the BVI's Deputy Premier and Minister of Health and Social Developent Dancia Penn and Germany’s Ambassador to the UK, Georg Boomgaarden.
This is the 18th agreement signed by the British Virgin Islands.
The BVI representative welcomed the inclusion of a protocol to the agreement, providing that BVI and Germany had no intention to introduce, in relation to residents or nationals of each territory, any discriminatory, prejudicial or restrictive measures based on harmful tax practices.
10.10.2010: This week, the British Virgin Islands had signed Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Portugal. The BVI and Portugal have agreed under the terms of the TIEA not to apply prejudicial or restrictive measures based on harmful tax practices to residents or nationals while the TIEA is in force.
The agreement with Portugal became the second one signed by the BVI during two days. The first TIEA was signed with Germany. The BVI has signed 19 TIEAS, including this agreement – with Ireland, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Netherlands Antilles and Aruba, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, China, France, Germany, and the Nordic countries.
16.10.2010: The Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFCA) announced the publication of regulations giving effect to the beneficial regime within the Qatar Financial Centre, located in Doha. Under the new tax regime, all QFC-registered companies are subject to 10% corporation tax on locally sources profits. Under the self-assessment scheme, tax returns and payment are due six months after the end of each accounting period. Also, to provide firms with tax treatment certainty, an advance transaction ruling scheme has been incorporated into the regime.
The tax regime was originally announced in 2006 and replaces the temporary tax holiday which ended on December 31, 2009.
The QFCA said that presentations are scheduled for November. These will detail the new regulations, and the practical aspects of completing returns and paying tax.
20.10.2010: The USA has passed eight major anti-money laundering laws. This legislation defines how to deal with money laundering and related crime. These anti-money laundering laws are as follows:
Bank Secrecy Act of 1970, which provides the requirements for record keeping and reporting by banks, individuals, and some other financial institutions;
Money Laundering Control Act of 1986, which addresses the prohibition of deposit structuring in order to avoid the USD 10 000 reporting ceiling;
Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, which requires car dealers and real estate closing personnel to file CTRs for transactions that involve more than USD 10 000;
Annunzio-Wylie Anti-Money Laundering Act of 1992;
Money Laundering Suppression Act of 1994;
Intelligence Reform & Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which requires specific financial institutions to report cross-border electronic transmittals of funds;
Money Laundering and Financial Crimes Strategy Act of 1998, according to which the banking agencies are required to include anti-money laundering training in their bank examiner training programs;
USA Patriot Act that strengthens customer identification procedures for financial institution and prevents the US financial institutions from having business with foreign shell banks.
