New Double Tax Agreement Between Cyprus And Guernsey

Introduction

On July 15 2014 Cyprus signed a new double tax agreement with Guernsey. The Guernsey authorities signed the agreement on July 29. This is the first comprehensive double tax agreement between the two jurisdictions and will come into force once it has been ratified in accordance with their domestic legal procedures. The 2004 agreement on the taxation of savings income between Cyprus and Guernsey will remain in force, but the double tax agreement will be much more beneficial to taxpayers once it takes effect.

The new agreement closely follows the 2010 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Model Convention, with only minor modifications, and the protocol to the agreement clarifies the information exchange provisions. The key provisions of the double tax agreement and protocol are summarised below.