12 October 2012
Jersey’s Acting Comptroller of Taxes, David Le Cuirot, has sent to EU Member States a total of £4.6 million in retention tax for the year 2011.
Retention tax is applied by Jersey paying agents and passed to the Comptroller of Taxes in accordance with agreements entered into with each of the 27 EU Member States on the taxation of eligible savings income that individuals resident in the Member States are receiving from the Island.
Under the terms of the agreements, 75% of the tax retained (£4.6 million) is sent to the individual Member States and the remaining 25% (£1.5 million) is retained by the Treasury.
The amount of tax retained in 2011 is 15% higher than in 2010 when £4 million was sent to the Member States and £1.3 million was retained by the Treasury. The increase reflects the fact that for the second half of 2011 a higher rate of retention tax applied.
The collection of retention tax relies on the co-operation of local paying agents, and the Acting Comptroller of Taxes is happy that the process of exchanging information and the payment of retention tax is continuing to work extremely well.
David Le Cuirot said “I am extremely grateful once again for all the cooperation and help received from the paying agents, in particular the banks, who bear the greatest burden.”
The Treasury and Resources Minister, Senator Philip Ozouf, said “As part of our good neighbour policy we are pleased to continue voluntarily to lend support to the Member States in the implementation of their Tax on Savings Income Directive.”