Rich Britons with money in the Cayman Islands set to be hit with big tax bills
By Alex Hawkes, Financial Mail On Sunday
Wealthy UK citizens with cash in the Cayman Islands are set to be hit with big tax bills after a landmark agreement between Britain and the Caribbean territory.
The deal emerged after the Caymans reached a separate deal with America to sign up to its rules on disclosing tax-dodgers to the authorities.
The agreement with Britain will be a major step towards tackling offshore tax evasion.
Until now tax authorities have had to request details of accounts they suspect have been used for evasion.
If the new rules are similar to those agreed with Washington, they would require automatic disclosure of any interest earned by a British citizen in a Caymans bank account.
Fiona Fernie, a tax partner at accountancy firm BDO, said it was unclear at this stage what information would be passed over. ‘We don’t know what the terms of the automatic exchange agreements are,’ she said.
Others speculated that Gibraltar, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and the Bahamas could be next to agree deals with Britain.
The agreement emerged in a little-reported speech in the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly on March 15, when finance minister Rolston Anglin said the Caymans would sign up to the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.
This forces banks to pass over details of Americans who have bank accounts there to US tax authorities.
‘This decision will also apply to a similar arrangement for automatic exchange of certain information with the United Kingdom,’ Anglin said.
Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man already have similar agreements with Britain.
For more on this story go to:
