Tuesday, December 8, 2009

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New tax goal By Scott Armstrong ~ Guardian Business Editor ~ scott@nasguard.com: The home of soccer legend Diego Maradona is the latest country poised to sign a tax agreement with The Bahamas, it has emerged. The head of the Administración Federal de Ingresos Públicos - the tax and customs agency of Argentina - Ricardo Echegaray revealed his nation was due to sign a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) with The Bahamas next week. He was speaking as his country signed its latest TIEA with Costa Rica, as his government works similarly to The Bahamas to meet the minimum 12 by March 2010, the target set forth by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The Bahamas took its latest step towards getting itself off the OECD's international tax gray list last week, after signing a partnership with New Zealand. The Argentina signing will be the sixth so far with agreements signed off with New Zealand, the US, the UK, San Marino and Monaco. Argentina has the second-highest Human Development Index and GDP per capita in purchasing power parity in Latin America. Also the South American nation is one of the G-20 major economies, with the world's 30th largest nominal GDP, and the 23rd largest when purchasing power is taken into account. The country is classified as upper-middle income or a secondary emerging market by the World Bank. Yesterday Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing said he preferred to wait until any signing had actually taken place before commenting. The minister told the Nassau Conference last week that agreements with enough nations to meet the OECD's demands were in place and were simply waiting on those countries to complete their paperwork. He told the meeting of international bankers and financiers: "While we can wrestle with the moral arguments about this exercise by the world's most developed countries, keeping it real, I should simply wish to point out that there is not a jurisdiction in the world that is not moving aggressively to meet the standard set by them. "Our goal in this exercise of complying with the evolved and evolving standards of the OECD/G-20 has always been clear - preserve the financial services sector of this nation by getting us off any list that was likely to result in sanctions by the world's most developed countries and economies, sanctions that would make it improbable or impossible for many, if not most of the existing and potential clients of our jurisdiction from doing business here." With pic of Diego Maradona and flag of argentina; caption: Taking another step towards the goal of meeting its March 2010 deadline The Bahamas is poised to sign its latest tax agreement with Argentina. Wednesday, November 25, 2009