Island signs 15th tax agreement

Mr Bell said the DTA was useful for future negotiations

The Isle of Man has a signed a tax information agreement with another country as part of its drive to throw off its "tax haven" label.

Treasury Minister Allan Bell put his name to the double taxation agreement (DTA) with Estonia in the Baltic country's capital, Tallin, on Friday.

Officials say it will help prevent tax evasion and meets agreed international standards on tax transparency.

Mr Bell said the DTA would also open up new opportunities for businesses.

The last tax information exchange agreement was signed with France in March. The latest agreement with Estonia is the 15th tax information exchange agreement, but only the second double taxation agreement.

The other was agreed with the United Kingdom more than 50 years ago.

UK praise

"The advantage of a double tax agreement is that this raises the bar still further, because it opens up new business opportunities," Mr Bell said.

"So this will be, not only helping us politically with the debate which is going on at the moment, but will be a major help to our business community as well.

"It sets the precedent now to enable us to negotiate other similar agreements with other countries from now on."

DTAs are designed to protect individuals or businesses from double taxation if their income is taxable in two states.

Last week, UK Treasury secretary Stephen Timms praised the island's inclusion on an OECD "white list" of countries meeting international standards on taxation.

The praise came just a few months after Chancellor Alistair Darling dubbed the island a "tax haven sitting in the Irish Sea".