Panama aims for OECD
The Panamanian Finance Ministry announced, on 12 August 2010, that Panama should be promoted to the OECD "white list" of jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard by the beginning of 2011.
Panamanian Deputy Economy Minister Frank De Lima said he was optimistic that Panama's efforts to sign income tax treaties with 10 countries and its upcoming treaty negotiations would be enough to attain white list status.
Panama has signed income tax treaties with Barbados and Mexico and has agreed to the text of tax treaties with eight other countries -- Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Qatar and Spain. De Lima said that negotiations for tax treaties with South Korea and Singapore were scheduled to start. When concluded, these would bring the number of agreements to 12, fulfilling the OECD's criteria for placement on the white list.
Panama planned to complete treaty talks with Ireland in September and with the Czech Republic in October. Treaty negotiations are also planned with Bulgaria, Canada, Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, Switzerland and the UK. Panamanian Vice President and Foreign Minister Juan Carlos Varela was scheduled to sign income tax treaties with France, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, and Spain during an official tour of Europe this October.
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