Andorra: Double Tax Treaties

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Andorra announced in 2009 that it would conform to the OECD's exchange of information standards, and in September head of government, James Bartumeu, welcomed French Budget Minister, Eric Woerth, to Andorra to sign an agreement to allow for the exchange of tax information between the two countries.

The agreement was Andorra’s fifth in five days, having also signed agreements with Austria, Monaco, Liechtenstein and San Marino. Speaking after concluding the agreement, Woerth acknowledged Andorra’s commitment to transparency and information exchange, and noted that it had reinforced the jurisdiction’s position as an international financial center.

The French delegation’s visit, Andorra’s government declared, would lead to greater cooperation between the two countries. Welcoming the signing, Woerth presented a letter from the French government expressing the country’s willingness to establish an agreement to avoid double taxation with Andorra, provided Andorra continued its drive towards transparency and information exchange.

According to Bartumeu the agreements involve only a partial lifting of banking secrecy, noting that tax information need only be exchanged when there is solid evidence of the perpetration of a tax crime, and not in so-called "fishing expeditions" and not on a retrospective basis.

James Bartumeu added that Andorra has reached an agreement to exchange tax information with Belgium, and is currently negotiating texts with Spain and the Netherlands. Andorra is also in discussions with the United Kingdom, Germany, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Australia, and Argentina.

In February, 2010, Andorra achieved recognition as a territory that has substantially implemented the internationally-agreed standard in transparency and tax information exchange with the signing of seven additional information exchange agreements with the Nordic countries - Denmark, the Faroe Islands, Finland, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The signing with the Nordic group brings the territory’s total of such agreements to seventeen, far exceeding the twelve TIEA quota set by G20 in April 2009. Accordingly, Andorra is now on the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Devlopment (OECD) ‘white list’.

In February, 2011, Andorra opened tax treaty negotiations with the UK, US, Australia and Italy. Negotiations with France are scheduled for the autumn of 2011 and an agreement it expected to be signed early in 2012. It was announced in July, 2011 that Spanish President, José Zapatero said that, following positive revisions to the Andorran tax regime, Spain is pursuing the signing of a Double Tax Agreement with Andorra.

Andorra is a member of the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes and has agreed to participate in a peer review of its laws and practices in this area.

Pascal Saint-Amans, head of the Global Forum Secretariat, said: “I am very pleased with the progress Andorra has made. Just one year ago it was still on the OECD’s list of uncooperative tax havens, and now it has made a commitment, changed its laws and has substantially implemented the agreed standard.”

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