CAYMAN ISLANDS -- Home to an estimated 8,000 hedge funds and a host of other funds aimed at professional or qualified investors and institutions, Cayman committed to the OECD tax standard in 2000.
* The islands have recently enacted legislation allowing it to exchange tax information and has identified 11 countries with which it is currently prepared to share tax data. The OECD is reviewing the legislation.
* GUERNSEY -- Germany said on March 26 it signed an agreement with Guernsey to share information for tax purposes. The agreement was based upon standards from the OECD, which now lists Guernsey and neighbor Jersey as among those who have substantially implemented the agreed tax standard.
* JERSEY -- France said on March 23 it and Jersey had signed an agreement to combat tax fraud by exchanging information.
-- Jersey had already signed similar agreements with the United States, Germany and Britain.
* LIECHTENSTEIN -- Said on March 26 it would start tax talks with Britain on more cooperation to fight tax cheats and encourage voluntary disclosure of its bank clients' untaxed money.
-- It also agreed to relax its strict bank secrecy law by committing to OECD standards on tax transparency and data exchange. It does not plan to move to automatic exchange of information and will retain bank secrecy but be more co-operative with other tax authorities when requested.
-- It agreed in December to cooperate on tax evasion with the United States.
-- Until recently banking laws permitted banks to issue numbered accounts, but new regulations require them to know who all account holders are.
* LUXEMBOURG -- Said on March 13 it would sign up to international OECD standards setting out commitments to exchanging tax information with other countries, but it said it would maintain its bank secrecy principles.
-- Banking secrecy law says that those who work in financial institutions cannot reveal information to the outside world except in money-laundering cases.
* MONACO -- Monaco agreed on March 26 to share information with EU to fight tax evasion. Said it had ended talks with the OECD on transparency and information-sharing standards and will end an "anti-fraud" agreement with the EU by the end of 2009.
* MONTSERRAT -- Montserrat was home to Allen Stanford's bank until the financial secretary of the Montserrat government wrote to Stanford in late 1990 lamenting the bank's failure to use an approved auditor and its operating in a manner detrimental to the bank's depositors.
Stanford subsequently shifted operations wholesale to Antigua and Barbuda.
The British overseas territory committed to the OECD standard in 2002, but has yet to act on the proposed measures.
* SAN MARINO -- The OECD removed San Marino from its blacklist of tax havens in 2003 after it took action to toughen its anti-money laundering rules, crack down on bearer accounts and make it harder for foreigners, mostly Italians from nearby provinces, to evade value added tax. Continued...