The G8 Agenda and TaxationDax Basdeo, Ph.D.

Chief Officer, Ministry for Financial ServicesCayman Islands Government

7 May 2013 | OffshoreAlert Conference | Miami, Florida

Global Context

• Financial Crisis• Global Economic Recovery• Multiple Agenda

– G20– G8– G0.7– EU– UN

The UK’s G8 Agenda

• Davos Speech (24 January 2013)

– Advancing trade (integration)– Ensuring tax compliance (tax evasion & aggressive tax avoidance)– Promoting greater transparency

(corruption / extractive industries)

• Communication with OTs and CDs (26 March 2013)

– UK FATCA, OECD Multilateral Convention– Revised FATF Standards– Anti-Corruption– OECD Multilateral Convention Multilateral Pilot (24 April 2013)

EU Agenda

• Communication: ‘Fight against tax fraud and tax evasion’ (27 June 2012)

• Action Plan (6 December 2012)

– Aggressive tax planning– Encouraging third countries

• ECOFIN (13 April 2013)

– Semeta: ‘The surge … in appetite for progress and action’

• Launch of Tax Good Governance Platform (23 April 2013)

G20: Automatic EOI• ‘We welcome and endorse the improved OECD standard

with respect to information requests’ (November 2012)

• ‘We reiterate our commitment to extending the practice of automatic exchange of information’ (February 2013)

• ‘We look forward to the OECD working with G20 countries to report back on the progress in developing of a new multilateral standard on automatic exchange of information’ (April 2013)

OECD & FATF• OECD

– Report on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (February 2013)

– Report to G20 (April 2013)

– BEPS Action Plan (July 2013)

– Transparency Ratings (September 2013)

• FATF– Revised Recommendations (February 2012)

• CFATF reviews expected to begin in Q4 2014

– Revised Methodology (February 2013)

Jurisdictional Responses

• Luxembourg, Austria• Isle of Man, Guernsey, Jersey• Anguilla, Bermuda, BVI, Turks and Caicos,

Montserrat• Cayman Islands

Media & Public Opinion• Poverty vs. Inequality• Evasion & Avoidance• Optimisation vs. Aggressive Tax Planning• Data Leaks & Scandals• Scope of the Problem• Heart vs. Mind

Fair Share

• Blame?– Government / Tax Code– MNCs– Service Providers– Offshore Centres

• Benefits?– Taxpayers– Developing Countries