HAMILTON, Bermuda--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Government of Bermuda’s Finance Minister, Bob Richards, announced today that the French Ministry of Finance has informed the French Association of Financial Management (AFG) that “Jersey and Bermuda have been informed that they will be removed from the list for 2014, which means that the retaliation measures provided for by law will not be applied.”
Minister Richards offered his gratitude to French officials for facilitating the meeting earlier this year between French and Bermudian Ministry of Finance officials, adding that officials from Bermuda are “pleased that Bermuda has now been delisted.”
Minister Richards said: "I was impressed with the goodwill shown by French officials in working with Bermuda officials to resolve the matter before the end of the year.
“We were confident that any entry on France’s list would be very short-lived as Bermuda is globally recognised as complying with the highest international standards on tax transparency and compliance.”
Mr. Richards added, “I wish to thank His Excellency the Governor of Bermuda and British Officials including the Chancellor of the Exchequer in London who gave us support behind the scenes.”
Yesterday Bermuda signed the US FATCA intergovernmental agreement to assist the US to fight against tax evasion.
In September 2013, Bermuda joined the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance in Tax Matters to facilitate cooperation between jurisdictions in the assessment and collection of taxes, in particular to combat tax avoidance and evasion. This means Bermuda is now among the leading international financial centers with transparency agreements as Bermuda now has over 60 tax transparency agreements when counting both bilateral and multilateral agreement partners.