Cayman Islands and U.K. Sign Double Taxation Agreements

Representatives from Cayman Islands Government today signed a double taxation agreement (DTA) with the U.K. Financial Secretary to the Treasury, Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms, MP during a ceremony in HM Treasury, London.

The DTA, which is another type of bilateral tax agreement, is the first of its kind to be signed by the Cayman Islands and protects against the risk of an individual or a corporate entity being taxed twice on the same earnings.

Signing the agreements on behalf of the Cayman Islands was Leader of Government Business/Premier Designate and Minister for Financial Services the Hon. McKeeva Bush OBE, JP.

“We are very pleased to sign this agreement with the United Kingdom today as part of the Cayman Islands continued commitment to high standards of international cooperation and transparency,” said Mr. Bush.

The Cayman Islands delegation, which was led by Mr. Bush and His Excellency the Governor Mr. Stuart Jack, CVO, also included the Minister of District Administration, Works, and Gender Affairs the Hon. Julianna O’ Connor-Conolly, JP; Chief Secretary the Hon. George McCarthy OBE, JP; Financial Secretary the Hon. Kenneth Jefferson JP; Chief Officer for Ministry of Financial Services Carson Ebanks OBE, JP; Senior Assistant Secretary Michelle Bahadur; Senior Political Assistant Richard Parchment; Cayman Islands Monetary Authority General Counsel/Deputy Managing Director Langston Sibblies and Paul Byles.

Rt. Hon. Stephen Timms, MP also said that, “Information exchange is a vital tool in ensuring that governments receive the revenues they need to resource the essential public services on which we all depend. I would like to congratulate the Cayman Islands Government for signing up to an arrangement which includes unprecedented provisions for tax information exchange that meet international standards of transparency.”

The Cayman Islands maintains nine bilateral tax information agreements with the following countries: United States, United Kingdom, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

This is a positive step forward in ensuring the Cayman Islands commitment to achieving the OECD’s requirement for a minimum of twelve agreements.