US and Monaco Sign TIEA

Still bending over backwards to get the club of bullies known as the G20 to take Monaco off the so-called "grey list" Monaco and the United States signed a Tax Information Exchange Agreement (TIEA) in Washington DC on Tuesday 8th September. Signing the agreement on behalf of their governments were H.E. Franck Biancheri, Government Counsellor for External Relations and for International Economic and Financial Affairs, and Mr. Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary of the US Treasury. Similar agreements have been signed with other countries such as Belgium and San Marino and is said to complement existing agreements made in 2001 between AMAF (Monaco’s Banking Association) and the American Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on a national level.

Negotiations with other countries are on-going and the new agreement comes prior to the opening of the General Debate of the 64th Session of the United Nations General Assembly for which H.S.H. the Sovereign Prince will travel to New York to attend on September 23. Biancheri said he was "extremely satisfied" with the agreement, the negotiations for which have been going on for some time between the U.S. and the Department for External Relations in Monaco via the Monegasque Embassy in Washington. In order to be withdrawn from the grey list, Monaco needs to negotiate twelve bilateral agreements of this type. When they have been signed and officialised by the OECD, the Principality will join the white list. Negotiations in this regard are currently underway with about twenty countries.

Once signed, these texts will be integrated into Monaco’s national legislation by Sovereign Decree (I just love that phrase!), complemented by arrangements for their practical enforcement.