Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Peter Turnquest signed the Protocol to Amend the Tax Information Exchange Agreement between the government of The Bahamas and the government of the Republic of Finland concerning information on tax matters at the Ministry of Finance, October 19, 2017.

Ambassador of Finland to the Caribbean Jukka Pietikäinen signed on behalf of the European nation.

DPM Turnquest said: “By the implementation of the Common Reporting Standard, The Bahamas shows its intent on remaining a well regulated, compliant and legitimate International Financial Centre with a strong Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Financing of Terrorism regime.”

On March 10, 2010 The Bahamas signed the original Tax Information Exchange Agreement with Finland concerning information on tax matters in Paris, France.

In 2014, The Bahamas committed to implementing the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) Global Forum Common Reporting Standard (CRS) for the automatic exchange of financial account information, thereby demonstrating the commitment to greater tax cooperation transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

The DPM also noted that The Bahamas Automatic Exchange Financial Account Information Act came into force on January 1, 2017, and the Automatic Exchange Financial Account Information (AEOI) Regulations 2017 was approved and brought into force on March 7, 2017.

“The Bahamas will commence exchanging financial account information with its AEOI partners in September 2018. By signing this Protocol today, The Bahamas and the Republic of Finland will now be AEOI partners.”

Turnquest said it is noteworthy to mention that at the onset, The Bahamas chose the OECD Global Forum’s Bilateral Approach as a method of automatically exchanging information; however, on May 29, 2017, The Bahamas government formally indicated to the organisation, its interest in becoming a party to the Multi-lateral Convention for Mutual Assistance on tax matters.

“The Bahamas will continue assisting and cooperating with jurisdictions in the effort to deter and prevent tax evasion and avoidance and increase transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.”