Canada signs first tax information exchange agreement with Netherlands

• Source: Xinhua
• [18:01 September 01 2009]
• Comments

Canada has signed its first tax information exchange agreement (TEA) with the Netherlands in accordance with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) requirement for fighting tax evasion, the government announced Monday.

The agreement with the Kingdom of the Netherlands in respect of the Netherlands Antilles, which are part of the Kingdom, sets out a framework for exchanging information relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic tax laws of each party, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty said in a press release.

"This agreement will help authorities combat tax evasion and enforce tax laws. We look forward to signing similar agreements with other jurisdictions who commit to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) standard for the exchange of tax information."

The standard, set by the OECD, encourages member countries to enter into TIEAs with non-tax treaty jurisdictions to combat tax evasion and the use of tax havens. In support of the standard, the Government of Canada introduced incentives in its 2007 budget to have non-treaty countries enter into TIEAs with Canada, and required that all new tax treaties and revisions to existing treaties include the OECD standard.