The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, (OECD), works consistently to build a fairer system of reporting and to raise standards of compliance and protection for savers and investors who make use of offshore tax havens around the world.
In part their work is fuelled in a bid to prevent taxation avoidance, in part they are key to stopping criminals using offshore havens for money laundering, and finally their work is also very important for the protection of those who legitimately make use of the many benefits available to them when they offshore their wealth and assets.
Therefore, it’s good news when more offshore tax havens take heed of the standards the OECD is pushing for, and agree to comply with their directives and requests for the exchange of tax relevant information. To that end, we have some positive tax haven news for expat savers.
As we’re sure you’re aware, tax havens have been very much in the news lately as the G20 leaders have all been pushing for a strong crackdown on non-complaint offshore jurisdictions. Well, this could have an impact on expat savers and investors who have placed their wealth in a given nation which fails to adhere to the pressures being placed upon it to comply with OECD standards. But the good news is, two havens that have recently become more attractive to expat savers have actually agreed to accept the transparency directives of the OECD.
Singapore and Hong Kong had both been identified by the OECD as being less than sufficiently transparent when it came to the exchange of tax information, but in separate announcements finance ministers from both jurisdictions have now agreed to adopt the OCED standards. The Financial Secretary of Hong Kong announced that the business and professional community is entirely behind the need for this level of compliance, and that by complying to OECD standards he foresees the likelihood that his nation will be able to further advance their appeal as they will be able to enter into taxation sharing information agreements with more countries.
The Ministry of Finance in Singapore also agreed that the OECD standards were fair, and that they tied in perfectly with Singapore’s commitment not to shelter criminal activity. Both offshore centres want to be seen as trusted and respected, they are both keen to build on the momentum they have seen in recent years as greater numbers of companies and individuals have moved their money, their assets and their business to the region. Ultimately, by ensuring neither jurisdiction is on an OECD watch list of black listed havens, both Singapore and Hong Kong will do themselves many favours because they will be able to enter into more tax treaties and thus facilitate trade flow and investment.
For expat savers and investors the news is welcome, it means that there are now two more attractive havens to look into and potentially choose from if they decide to go offshore…
