Background
In December 2017, and as part of its ongoing commitment to
assist the EU in combatting harmful tax practices Bermuda joined a
group of international financial centres committed to implementing
legislation for economic substance requirements.
Pursuant to its commitment, Bermuda has enacted the Economic
Substance Act 2018 (the "EU Substance
Act") and the Economic Substance Regulations 2018
(the "EU Substance Regulations") which
are operative with effect from 1 January 2019.
The new legislation follows extensive consultation by the
Bermuda Government with the OECD, the Financial Action Task Force
("FATF") and the EU Code of Conduct
Group ("COCG") and is intended to meet
the economic substance requirements outlined in the scoping paper
issued by the COCG.