NASSAU, The Bahamas – The Governments of The Bahamas and of Japan presented their compliments referring to the Agreement for the Exchange of Information for the Purpose of the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion and the Allocation of Rights of Taxation, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday, July 26, 2011.
The initial TIEA was signed on January 27, 2011. The agreement will enter into force on August 25, 2011, thirty days after the date of receipt of a Note from the Ministry informing that the agreement has been approved in accordance with legal procedures of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
The exchange was done by Ambassador Joshua Sears, Director General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for The Bahamas, and Tadahiko Yamaguchi, First Secretary, Embassy of Japan in Jamaica, for Japan.
Ambassador Sears said it was a very important phase in relations between The Bahamas and Japan. He thanked negotiators of the Ministry of Finance for their work in seeing the TIEA to fruition.
Mr. Yamaguchi thanked The Bahamas Government, particularly the negotiators at the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the mutual cooperation, which led to the signing of the TIEA in January.
He said it was a sign of “good cooperation” for future endeavours between both countries.
The TIEA provides for cooperation in tax matters to the internationally accepted standards. It also provides for the allocation to each party certain exclusive taxing rights in respect of income from sources in other contracting parties, which is received by designated groups of students, pensioners and government employees.
The involvement of both governments in the international tax cooperation work of the United Nations and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), as well as the conclusion of the TIEA, “proves that there is mutual commitment to the effective implementation of accepted international standards for financial regulation and cross-border cooperation,” the ministry said.
The Bahamas has signed Tax Information Exchange Agreements with 24 countries.
By Lindsay Thompson
Bahamas Information Services
