Bermuda signs up to Country by Country reporting regime

Bermuda’s Minister of Finance the Honourable Bob Richards has announced that Bermuda has signed its declaration to the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement for the exchange of Country by Country Reports (CbC) after a long period of consultation with industry which began last year.

In doing so, Bermuda adopts the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) CbC reporting regime, applicable to multinational enterprises (MNEs).

Bermuda's CbC declaration will, from the 2016 fiscal year, instruct MNEs headquartered in Bermuda to file their CbC information to the Minister of Finance by December 31, 2017.  This start date is in line with France, the UK and a number of other countries, and is an extension of Bermuda’s move in October 2014 to become an early adopter of the OECD's other automatic exchange of tax information regime: 'the common reporting standard' (CRS).

Through the CRS, Bermuda already requires financial institutions to file aspects of their clients' financial information by September 30th, 2017.

Minister Richards said: "We were one of the first jurisdictions in the world to sign up to the common reporting standard in 2014 as an early adopter of CRS and so I am proud Bermuda is again setting an example in adopting the Country by Country reporting regime without hesitation.

“Our government is committed to upholding international best practice in tax transparency."