The Government of Jersey will be setting out the compelling arguments for the island to achieve ‘cooperative’ status as part of the comprehensive screening exercise being undertaken by the EU Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation.
Confirming that Jersey was in receipt of a letter from the Chair of the Code Group, the Chief Minister, Senator Ian Gorst, said: “The island has a positive story to tell on all matters of compliance with international standards of tax transparency and information exchange, and we are confident of being able to satisfy the EU’s good governance criteria.”
Jersey is one of over 90 jurisdictions to have recently been written to by the Chair of the Group. The selection of these jurisdictions is largely based on the ‘scoreboard’ published by the European Commission in September, of jurisdictions that are economically relevant for the EU.
The Code Group will be undertaking initial analysis of information in the public domain, including reports of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, and the OECD Inclusive Framework for Tackling Base Erosion and Profit Shifting.
Analysis of these reports will show that Jersey is already rated as ‘largely compliant’ by the Global Forum in respect of its international standards, a rating that matches that of Germany, the UK and the US.
The island is also a member of the ‘early adopters group’ committed to the early adoption of the Common Reporting Standard on automatic exchange of information (AEOI), which was produced by the OECD at the request of the G20 and which will have global application.
Jersey’s tax regime has already been assessed by the EU Code Group (in 2011) and was found to be ‘Code compliant’ – a recommendation that was approved by the Council of Ministers of the European Union in December 2011.
The island has pursued a good neighbour policy in its relations with the EU and, even though not bound to do so, has engaged voluntarily with the Code Group, and with the EU on the taxation of savings income.