Tax News has reported that Singapore has passed a Tax Information Exchange Law..
They report
This week Singapore?s parliament? passed the Income Tax (Amendment) (Exchange of Information) Bill, which will allow the country to implement the internationally agreed OECD standard for the exchange of information (EOI) for tax purposes.
The changes contained in the bill will enhance the level of assistance and information Singapore can provide to foreign jurisdictions under bilateral double taxation agreements (DTAs), as explained in a speech by the Minister of Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, to parliament.
He said that previously the assistance that Singapore could give through DTAs was subject to the domestic interest condition, meaning that the information requested had to be relevant to the enforcement of domestic tax laws before the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) could gather and exchange it with DTA partners. Only where there was a domestic interest, would Singapore?s banking and trust confidentiality laws allow for information to be obtained for the purposes of investigating or prosecuting a tax offence.
The new EOI standard for exchange of information, Shanmugaratnam said, enhances the scope of information exchange cooperation under DTAs by lifting the domestic interest condition and allowing for access to information from banks and trust companies under certain conditions. This enhanced scope of cooperation will not only allow Singapore to provide greater assistance to its prescribed treaty partners, he added, but also help Singapore obtain information for the enforcement of its own domestic tax laws.
Full story at? http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/Singapore_Passes_Tax_Information_Exchange_Law_xxxx39717.html
