Cayman Islands face Brown's wrath
The British dependent territory of the Cayman Islands, a major tax shelter, faces intervention from Gordon Brown, unless its shows a willingness to comply with new EU savings tax rules.
Link: US tax havens amnesty fails to deliver
To date all other UK island territories have committed to the new tax rules, which are based on the exchange of information between tax authorities, according to the FT.
Brown told a meeting of finance ministers in Italy that Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man would apply the withholding tax regime in use in Austria Belgium and Luxembourg, while the British Virgin Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands and Montserrat have all indicated they will comply.
The Cayman Islands have not come forward with any proposal and Brown said he would legislate if necessary: ‘It would probably be through a Treasury order – secondary legislation,’ the Treasury said.