In 2015, the Cayman Islands joined more than 90 other countries by committing to the exchange of information for tax purposes on an automatic basis. Cayman is in the process of implementing the OECD Common Reporting Standard, with the first automatic information exchange due to take place in September 2017. In April 2016, the Cayman Islands government also committed to the provision to revenue and law enforcement authorities of information on the beneficial ownership of companies and other structures and signed a protocol with the government of the United Kingdom in respect of the sharing of beneficial ownership information which is due to come into effect no later than June 30, 2017. This will allow, for example, reporting of all companies in which a given individual has a significant interest, even though the companies may be managed by different service providers.
This article deals with the regime as it stands now in this ever evolving area of law and regulation and provides a brief background of the important things you need to know.
N.B.
*This article was drafted prior to the Confidential Information Disclosure Law, 2016 coming into force. That law repeals the Confidential Relationships (Preservation) Law, meaning disclosure of confidential information is no longer a criminal offence. The disclosure requirements under the Tax Information Authority Law set out in this article have not changed.
