We are pleased to provide you below, as an information guide, with a number of documents relating to the Bahamas and its position on international tax cooperation, as well as the evolution of a number of jurisdictions since January 2009. See below for: Jurisdictions may also choose to use the text of the articles of the Model Protocol if they wish to include in a new TIEA the provisions for the automatic and spontaneous exchange of information. In March 2009, the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance of Bahama, Hubert Ingraham, reaffirmed, in a statement to the Bahamian Parliament, the Bahamas` commitment to OECD standards of transparency and exchange of information. The governments of Australia and the Bahamas have signed an agreement on the exchange of tax information. The agreement provides for the exchange of information on request, both in criminal and civil matters. The purpose of this Agreement is to promote international cooperation in tax matters through the exchange of information. It was developed by the OECD Global Forum Working Group on Effective Exchange of Information. As of March 2019, the Bahamas has signed tax information exchange agreements with 29 countries, including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, China, Canada and Australia. This agreement, published in April 2002, is not a binding instrument, but includes two model bilateral agreements.

A large number of bilateral agreements have been based on this agreement (see below). The Bahamas` position on international tax cooperation includes the Government`s recent statements on the TIEA negotiations and the reaffirmation in March 2009 of its commitment to international standards for the exchange of information. We also posted archived articles from January 2002, when The Bahamas US TIEA was signed. The agreement gave rise to the development of the OECD to combat harmful tax practices. The lack of an effective exchange of information is one of the key criteria for determining harmful tax practices. The agreement is the standard for an effective exchange of information within the meaning of the OECD Initiative on Harmful Tax Practices. Japan and the Bahamas signed a memorandum to their Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) on 9 February and agreed to improve the agreement through automatic exchange. In this way, jurisdictions will be able to base a bilateral agreement on the competent authority for the purpose of introducing the automatic exchange of information in accordance with the common information standard or the automatic exchange of country reports on an TIEA, in particular where the automatic exchange of information is not (yet) possible under a relevant multilateral agreement of the competent authority.