GEORGETOWN, Guyana (CMC) —A senior official of the Guyana-based Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat on Monday said that the 15-member regional integration grouping is moving towards updating their tax treaties to align them with international standard and rules.

The secretariat in a statement on Monday, said that in an address to a two-day virtual seminar recently, Evelyn Wayne, director of economic policy and development at the CARICOM Secretariat, said the CARICOM Council for Finance and Planning (COFAP) recognises the importance of tax cooperation and the shifts in the international tax landscape.

Wayne said as a result it was decided that the CARICOM Tax Treaty should be updated to accommodate the international tax standards and rules that CARICOM member states have committed to adopt over time.

”With the support of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), we have started to update the treaty and have recently finalised the protocol that would incorporate provisions to exchange information for tax purposes and for dispute settlement,” Wayne said.

The seminar examined the changing international tax landscape and its impact on CARICOM and several organisations including the Caribbean Organisation of Tax Administrators (COTA), the OECD Centre for Tax Policy and Administration as well as the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators, the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre (CARTAC), and the World Bank Group, collaborated on the project.

Wayne said that the activity, which was attended by 200 participants from the regional tax and finance sectors , was aimed at taking stock of developments in the international taxation landscape and continue the conversation on how CARICOM member states can beneficially adopt and adapt the new tax standards and rules given CARICOM’S unique circumstances.

She said one of those circumstances was the involvement of most CARICOM states in creating a single market and economy, which requires the adoption of common rules for the non-discriminatory treatment of CARICOM nationals and their businesses

She spoke of the Intra-CARICOM Double Taxation Agreement, which preceded the decision to form a CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), noting that the instrument initiated a course of tax cooperation and benefit-sharing as one of the foundation principles of CARICOM economic cooperation and integration.