BAHAMAS NEGOTIATING 14 NEW TAX INFORMATION

C O N F I D E N T I A L NASSAU 000460 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA/CAR E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/03/2019 TAGS: ECON EFIN BF SUBJECT: BAHAMAS NEGOTIATING 14 NEW TAX INFORMATION EXCHANGE AGREEMENTS REF: A. NASSAU 149 ¶B. NASSAU 202 Classified By: CDA Elmo for reasons 1.4b and (d). ¶1. (U) Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing announced on July 29 that The Bahamas is negotiating Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA) with 14 countries. This announcement comes on the heels of Prime Minister,s Ingraham pledge to enforce standards on tax transparency after The Bahamas was placed on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) &grey list8 for tax haven abuse in April 2009. The Government of The Bahamas (GCOB) has completed only one TIEA to date, which was signed with the U.S. in 2002. OECD criteria specify that a country have at least 12 TIEA,s in order to be in compliance with offshore tax standards. ¶2. (C) A Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) official told Econoff in a private discussion that the negotiation of the 14 TIEA,s is the &number one priority8 for the MFA right now. He said that The Bahamas is up for review by the OECD in December 2009 and that the MFA is pushing to have all 14 agreements signed before that time. The MFA official said that negotiations with all countries are moving quickly, noting that a signing ceremony with Canada may happen as soon as October. ZUNIGA-BROWN