02/03/09 - The Isle of Man and Germany announced that they have signed a bilateral agreement for the exchange of information for tax purposes, bringing to 13 the number of such agreements entered into by the Isle of Man.

Jeffrey Owens, Director of OECD’s Centre for Tax Policy and Administration, welcomed the new agreement as a further step in efforts to bring greater transparency and fairness to cross-border financial transactions. “The time has now come ” he noted, “for all jurisdictions that have made commitments to the international standards of transparency and exchange of information to follow the Isle of Man’s lead in implementing them.”

Since the start of 2007, jurisdictions committed to the OECD principles of transparency and exchange of information have signed a total of 36 bilateral information exchange agreements with OECD countries, and the Isle of Man has accounted for 11 of these. “I am particularly pleased with the excellent progress the Isle of Man has made in extending its network of these agreements,” Mr. Owens said.

OECD's work on transparency and information exchangeis designed to enable countries to fully and fairly enforce their tax laws in an increasingly borderless world (see progress reports issued in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2006). A total of 35 jurisdictions have committed to work with OECD countries under the auspices of the OECD's Global Forum on Taxation to improve transparency and to establish effective information exchange for tax purposes, and many other countries and international organisations have also endorsed these principles. A report issued last September, "Tax Co-operation: Towards a Level Playing Field - 2008 Assessment by the Global Forum on Taxation", describes the progress made over the last year in 83 OECD  and non OECD  economies in implementing the high standards of transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.

For further information, journalists are invited to contact: in the Isle of Man, Malcolm Couch (tel: + 44 1624 685 350 ); in Germany, the Finance Ministry Press Department (tel: + 49-30-18682-3020); at OECD, Pascal St-Amans (tel: + 33 1 4524 9746).