Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) (No.3) Order, 2014 (SI No. 64 of 2014)

Summary

This Order gives domestic legal effect in the Virgin Islands to the OECD/Council of Europe Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAAC), as amended by the 2010 Protocol. It applies Part 1 of the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003 to the Convention text set out in the Schedule, meaning the Convention's provisions on exchange of information, assistance in tax recovery and service of documents become part of Virgin Islands law for dealings between the Virgin Islands and other Convention Parties.

• Exchange of information: Competent authorities of Convention Parties, including the Virgin Islands, may exchange tax information on request, automatically, or spontaneously where certain circumstances arise (e.g. suspected tax loss, artificial profit transfers).
• Assistance in recovery: A requested Party must, subject to conditions and time limits (including a 15 year limit on enforcement requests), take steps to recover tax claims of another Party as if they were its own.
• Service of documents: A requested Party must serve tax-related documents, including those relating to judicial decisions, on behalf of an applicant Party.
• Simultaneous and abroad examinations: Parties may conduct simultaneous tax examinations and allow foreign officials to be present at tax examinations conducted domestically.
• Confidentiality and use of information: Information obtained under the Convention is subject to confidentiality obligations and restrictions on its use, as set out in the Convention text.

This is a state-to-state treaty implementation instrument rather than a rulebook directly regulating Virgin Islands businesses. It operates between the Virgin Islands' competent authority (the International Tax Authority) and the competent authorities of other Convention Parties, underpinning cross-border information exchange (including for CRS/FATCA-related cooperation) rather than imposing direct filing or compliance duties on financial institutions.

Key obligations

• Competent authorities of Convention Parties must exchange information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration or enforcement of domestic tax laws, on request, automatically, or spontaneously (Articles 4 to 7)
• A requested Party must take steps to recover tax claims of an applicant Party as if they were its own, subject to Articles 14 and 15, and is not obliged to act on recovery requests submitted more than 15 years after the original enforcement instrument (Article 14(3))
• A requested Party must serve documents relating to tax matters on behalf of an applicant Party using methods prescribed by its domestic law or the closest available method (Article 17)
• Parties must notify the Depositaries of any change to the list of taxes covered (Annex A) or to the list of competent authorities (Annexes B and C)

Deadlines

• 1st day of March 2014: The Order is deemed to have come into force (retroactive commencement) applying Part 1 of the Act to the MAAC Convention.
• 15 years from the date of the original instrument permitting enforcement: Time limit after which a requested State is not obliged to comply with a request for recovery assistance (Article 14(3))

Related documents

• This document is made under Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act, 2003 (No. 18 of 2003)