The Isle of Man welcomes its meeting with the Prime Minister in London today (Saturday 15 June 2013) to discuss Tax, Trade and Transparency.
We strongly support Mr Cameron’s ambition to achieve a global solution on the critical issues of tax evasion and fraud by agreeing practical steps on tax information exchange and the identification of corporate beneficial ownership. We have today agreed some important steps as part our contribution to advancing this key global agenda and creating a level playing field across the world.
These include a commitment to publish an Action Plan, at the same time as those G8 countries publishing plans in Lough Erne, which will set out our position on beneficial ownership. The Isle of Man has a strong track record in this area and has had a robust regime in place for more than 10 years. Indeed, we are ahead of most other countries in this respect.
Establishing the ultimate beneficial ownership behind all account relationships conducted in the Isle of Man is a legal requirement backed by on-site supervision to ensure compliance. Legislation is in place to ensure that full and accurate details are maintained on the true ownership and control of every company, trust and fund in the Isle of Man, and that this information is freely available to law enforcement agencies and tax collectors.
The Isle of Man Government believes that its beneficial ownership requirements are comprehensive and, to the best of its knowledge, it has always been able to provide beneficial ownership details when requested during international investigations. Further to this, the Isle of Man has agreed to review its existing provisions and to assess the accessibility of beneficial ownership information and the effectiveness of mechanisms to share this with foreign counterparts.
It will also consider whether the introduction of a centralised registry would improve transparency of the ownership and control of companies in the Isle of Man. It is the Isle of Man’s intention to share the findings of this national assessment by 2014.
