Bermuda becomes first UK Overseas Territory to sign landmark agreements with US and UK

Bermuda has become the first UK Overseas Territory to sign Country-by-Country Competent Authority Agreements with the UK and US. Both recent agreements comply with OECD Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) tax-transparency standards.

The agreement with the US means Bermuda will provide corporate income data relating to Bermuda-based multinationals that generate US income. It is designed to complement Bermuda’s other automatic exchange of information agreement with the US, signed in 2013 and designed to give access to income information on US taxpayers under the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act.

The UK agreement also enables automatic reporting of corporate income for UK tax purposes. Like the US agreement, it enables the automatic reporting of corporate income on a country-by-country basis for UK tax enforcement purposes.

Premier David Burt said: “The agreement we have put in place with the United States demonstrates Bermuda's continued commitment to being transparent, cooperative and compliant with international tax authorities. As a leading jurisdiction in global tax transparency we will continue, without reservation, to show that Bermuda is no place to hide money. We stand by our call for other countries to meet the 'Bermuda Standard'."