The Cook Islands Parliament recently passed a number of bills related to the financial services industry which will assist companies in the industry to meet the requirements of the United States of America Foreign Account Tax Compliance and the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
Provision of Customer Information Bill
The Provision of Customer Information Act 2013 removes legislative barriers which currently prevent Banks and Trust Companies operating in the Cook Islands from providing to the tax authorities of other countries information relating to their citizens. The legislation will only apply in respect of those countries prescribed by legislation. It is the Government's intention immediately to identify the United States of America and Australia as countries to which this legislation applies and so enable disclosure by banks and trust companies to the Inland Revenue Service (IRS) in the United States and the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in Australia.