YaY! Gibraltar agreement on tax set to fail, say lawyers

A new tax information exchange agreement between Ireland and Gibraltar is unlikely to be effective in preventing tax avoidance, lawyers in Gibraltar have warned.

The agreement was signed last week by Minister of State Martin Mansergh, who said it would allow the Revenue Commissioners to request information ‘‘which is relevant to an Irish tax investigation’’ directly from the authorities in Gibraltar.

That could include bank account information and ‘‘beneficial ownership information for companies’’, he said.

However, Gibraltar lawyers said that information held by the ‘‘competent authority’’ - the Chief Secretary to the Treasury - may not be very detailed, as information about Irish taxpayers is more likely to be held by local trust companies or company managers.

Stephen french Davis, of Governor’s Street Chambers, an Irish barrister practising in Gibraltar since 1997, said: ‘‘Gibraltar is required to enter into a number of such agreements with OECD member states to ensure that it does not find itself classified as a non-compliant tax haven. Giving effect to the agreement, however, may be quite a different matter.”

He also said that two of the main types of tax break offered in Gibraltar - offshore exempt companies and low-tax residence - would also have to be fundamentally rethought.

‘‘There is unlikely to be any information available about Irish residents or Irish taxpayers registered in Gibraltar under ‘category II status’, as that requires no declaration of income exceeding a certain threshold,” he said. ‘‘Tax-exempt companies and non-resident companies are also not required to make tax returns in Gibraltar, and only have to file abbreviated accounts.”

French Davis said many Irish people with investments in Gibraltar had already moved on from the territory. ‘‘We saw an influx of companies from Ireland to Gibraltar when the Irish ‘non-resident company’ regime was closed down in the late 1990s, but most Irish people with companies in Gibraltar have already made the move away,” he said.

‘‘A very considerable number of Irish people had already closed their Gibraltar accounts and either availed of one of the amnesties or simply moved farther a field.”

http://www.sbpost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=IRELAND-qqqm=news-qqqid=42763-qqqx=1.asp

YaY! Gibraltar agreement on tax set to fail, say lawyers

YaY! Gibraltar agreement on tax set to fail, say lawyers

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