26/09/17

Bermuda on France's 'CbC Reporting Whitelist'

Bermuda has been placed on France's "whitelist" for Country-by-Country (CbC) Reporting, making it the first UK Overseas Territory to be awarded this status, according to LowTax.

The CbC report is one element of a new three-tiered standardized approach to transfer pricing documentation as proposed in Action 13 of the OECD's base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) Action Plan. CbC reporting requires multinational enterprises to provide aggregate information annually, in each jurisdiction where they do business, relating to the global allocation of income and taxes paid, together with other indicators of the location of economic activity within the MNE group. It will also cover information about which entities do business in a particular jurisdiction and the business activities each entity engages in.

Noting that it has been "placed on a French whitelist," Bermuda's Premier and Minister of Finance, David Burt, noted that Bermuda is a party to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement on the Exchange of CbC Reports. It is also an early adopter of CbC Reporting, which means it will be ready to share CbC 2016 fiscal year reports by June 2018 with other countries that have decided to adopt the standard early, such as France.

Burt said: "Bermuda's placement on France's 'whitelist' for Country by Country Reporting will further establish Bermuda's leadership in supporting international cooperation in tax matters and financial transparency. However, continued engagement with the EU and its member states in the weeks and months ahead is vital in view of the current risk that we may face from the EU. To this end, I can report that I will be traveling to Paris and Brussels next month to attend meetings with key political policymakers in an effort to provide necessary support to Bermuda's efforts to avoid blacklisting by the EU Code of Conduct Group."