Mr Brian Cowen, Tánaiste and Mr Allan Bell, Treasury Minister of the Isle of Man signed two tax cooperation agreements between Ireland and the Isle of Man in Dublin on Thursday, 24 April 2008.

The two agreements are:

• a tax information exchange agreement (TIEA) based on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) model of exchange of information, and
• an agreement for affording relief from double taxation with respect to certain income of individuals and establishing a mutual agreement procedure in connection with the adjustment of profits of associated enterprises.

The Tax Information Exchange Agreement between Ireland and the Isle of Man will allow the Revenue Commissioners to request information from their Isle of Man counterparts relevant to an Irish tax investigation. Such information would typically relate to bank accounts or the beneficial ownership of companies or trusts. Likewise, the Isle of Man authorities may request the Revenue Commissioners to obtain and provide information of relevance to an Isle of Man tax investigation.

The retrospective powers of this agreement are dependant on if the information is sought for criminal tax matters or not. Article 10 of the Agreements says:

“ This Agreement shall enter into force when each Party has notified the other in writing of the completion of its necessary internal procedures for entry into force. Upon the date of entry into force, it shall have effect:

1. for criminal tax matters, on that date; and
2. for all other matters covered in Article 1, on that date, but only in respect of taxable periods beginning on or after that date or, where there is no taxable period, all charges to tax arising on or after that date”

Apart from the Isle of Man, the Revenue Commissioners are engaged in negotiations for TIEAs with several other jurisdictions that have been identified as being potentially significant in the Irish context, namely Jersey, Guernsey, Cayman Islands and the British Virgin Islands. These negotiations are at various stages.

For details of the signed agreement see http://www.finance.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?DocID=5271&CatID=1&StartDate=1+January+2008&m=