New Zealand’s Revenue Minister, Peter Dunne, has announced the signing of two new tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs), one with Dominica and the other with St Vincent and the Grenadines.{{more}}

The latest TIEAs bring the number of such agreements that New Zealand has entered into to 15. “TIEAs are important bilateral international treaties that allow tax authorities in the participating countries to exchange information on civil and criminal matters,” Dunne said.

The agreements will give the tax authorities of each country an ability to exchange taxpayer information over all taxes imposed by each party. It is provided that neither tax authority can refuse to provide information solely because it does not require the information for its own domestic purposes, or because the information is held by a bank or similar institution.

Dunne added that TIEAs are also “an important benchmark for offshore financial centres in meeting Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development standards for transparency and the exchange of information.”

The two new TIEAs will come into force once New Zealand and the treaty signatories give legal effect to them.