Under the agreements, the financial authorities within each country will be required to pass on data, including names, date of birth, along with details of inward and outward financial transactions.
The data is set to be shared with not only the UK tax authorities; but also with tax authorities in France, Germany, Italy and Spain – all of whom have agreed, in June 2012, to work together to combat tax evasion.
The UK government has made fighting tax evasion a priority while it chairs the G8 group of advanced economies this year and it will host a meeting of finance ministers later this month (May).
Meanwhile, the United States has been in a lengthy dispute with Switzerland over the latter's bank secrecy rules, while the European Union also has turned up pressure on Austria and Luxembourg. However, Austria has accused Britain and the United States of shielding their own tax havens.
With governments in most advanced economies short of tax revenue after the financial crisis, pressure has been growing on small territories with big banking sectors to lift bank secrecy and do more to combat tax dodging and money laundering.
The deals with Jersey, Guernsey and the Channel Islands were welcomed at the time by the Tax Justice campaign group, although it said that the true test would be whether the ownership of companies and trusts would also be revealed.
For more information, please contact Glazers, Chartered Accountants London or visit www.glazers.co.uk
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