The Minister, on the advice of the BVI International Tax Authority (the ITA), made the Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) (Fees) Order 2024 (the Order).
The Order is effectively subsidiary legislation to the BVI's Mutual Legal Assistance (Tax Matters) Act 2003 (the MLAT). The Order was made on 20 March 2024 and was Gazetted and came into force on 28 March 2024.
The key features of the Order are:
- A relevant entity, ie an entity that is required to be enrolled in the BVI Financial Account Reporting System (FARS) for the purpose of satisfying its obligations under the MLAT and any other legislation or any other matter imposing an obligation of enrolment, will need to pay to the ITA an annual fee of US$185. This annual fee is the fee that is payable for the use of the BVI FARS system.
- The annual fee (referred to in 1 above) is due and payable by a relevant entity on or before 1 June in each year.
- A relevant entity that fails to pay the annual fee on the date referred to in 2 above will be liable to pay, in addition to the annual fee, a late fee as prescribed under paragraph 5 of the Schedule to the International Tax Authority (Administrative Penalties) Regulations 2023 (the Admin Penalty Regulations).
- As a reminder the Admin Penalty Regulations are in force. Please see our blog post here. Paragraph 5 of the Schedule to the Amin Penalty Regulations prescribes that there is 5 per cent of the total fee or penalty payable for each month or part of that fee or penalty that is outstanding, up to a maximum of 60 per cent of the total fee or penalty.
A copy of the Order can be found here.
Relevant entities are reminded to take note of the new regulatory requirement imposed under the Order and work with their corporate service providers/AEOI specialists in order to not encounter any enforcement action.
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.