HMRC has published a discussion document Implementing the United Kingdom's Agreements with the Crown Dependencies to Improve International Tax Compliance, which looks to conclude agreements with these territories, on the back of signing the UK/US enhanced automatic tax information exchange agreement which heralded a new standard in international tax transparency.

The document - discussing the conclusion of similar agreements with other jurisdictions starting with the British Crown Dependencies (CDs) of the Isle of Man, Guernsey and Jersey, and those Overseas Territories (OTs) with financial centres (Anguilla, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Montserrat and the Turks and Caicos Islands) - is open for comment until 6 September 2013.

A model agreement has been drafted as the basis for discussion with both the CDs and the OTs, but the UK will only be required to implement domestically its agreements with the CDs. As with the UK/US agreement, signed in September 2012, this model agreement provides for an intergovernmental agreement approach to data exchange.

This discussion document covers implementation issues that will affect UK business. It asks about the impact of these agreements on UK financial institutions, and also asks how the final agreements can best be implemented in the UK through regulations and guidance. The agreements will impact institutions in both jurisdictions which are party to the agreement but this document concerns the UK implementation of those agreements and so focuses on the impact on UK financial institutions.

More details are available from HMRC HERE