BARBADOS WILL NOT be coerced into backing away from its longstanding preference for double taxation agreements (DTAs).
Prime Minister Freundel Stuart made this clear this morning as he addressed the opening of an international financial conference organised by Invest Barbados and the Central Bank.
Pressure continues to mount on Barbados to sign more tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) and some members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Global Forum recently complained that the island was delaying signing TIEAs.
But Stuart told the audience of international business practitioners and researchers assembled at Hilton Barbados that DTAs worked for Barbados and it would continue to pursue them. Barbados 34 DTAs “in force”
“From inception, very deliberately, the government of the day decide that it would build its industry along the lines of the treaty-based model and the country has not departed from this commitment. The double taxation treaty provides a compliant and transparent legal framework that brings certainty to tax treatment involving international transactions between the parties involved,” Stuart said.
“Consequently the tax administrator and the tax payer are clear in respect of their obligations. Barbados has continued to expand the network of DTAs as a means of ensuring that global outreach can continue to be achieved using this jurisdiction as a home base.”(SC)
