Canada's High Commissioner to Barbados, Mrs. Ruth Archibald (left) and Barbados' Minister of International Business, Hon. George Hutson, M.P., sign the Protocol to Amend the DTA between Barbados and Canada

Barbados and Canada Amend Double Taxation Treaty 

The Governments of Barbados and Canada have signed a protocol to amend their existing double taxation agreement (DTA) in order to update previously used provisions for the exchange of information between the tax authorities of the two countries. The protocol ensures that the existing DTA meets the new standards that have been defined by the OECD regarding the mechanisms to exchange tax information between governments.
 
“The signing of this protocol will improve the treaty-based mechanism for tax information exchange to the level of the international standard on transparency and exchange of information,” said George Hutson, Minister of International Business and International Transport. “Undoubtedly, this protocol demonstrates our commitment to internationally accepted principles of transparency and tax information exchange to which we have agreed, and in which we have had several years of practical application.”

CEO of Invest Barbados, Wayne Kirton, said that Barbados and Canada enjoyed a particularly close relationship, and that, from the perspective of international business and trade, our countries have mutually benefited from our unique double taxation agreement for more than 30 years.  “The signing of the protocol renews and reinforces that unique treaty-based relationship and I expect that our long-practiced ability to apply the principles of tax information exchange in Barbados will only be enhanced by the signing of this protocol,” Kirton remarked.

Currently, Barbados has signed double taxation treaties with 34 countries. Treaties with four countries - Czech Republic, Ghana, Iceland and Portugal - are awaiting ratification.  DTAs with Belgium, Italy, and Vietnam have been initialled.  A complete list of Barbados' DTAs is available at - http://www.investbarbados.org/dtas.php.