Barbados ‘making significant progress’ in tax compliance

Barbados on Tuesday reaffirmed its full commitment to international tax transparency and compliance standards as a club of the world’s richest nations met here on tax compliance.

Minister in the Ministry of Finance Ryan Straughn told the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) Global Forum peer review meeting on Barbados’ tax compliance that the island had made significant progress in meeting its international tax obligations and was determined to maintain those standards.

“As we small states attempt to ensure that we can deliver on our development objectives, the commitments that we’ve made with respect to tax transparency as well as the exchange of information on the common reporting standards are key for us to be able to unlock investment to be able to grow our businesses,” Straughn told the meeting at the Hilton Barbados Resort.

He noted that extensive reforms had been undertaken to meet global requirements, strengthen governance, and restore investor confidence.

“We have seen the benefits in respect to improved transparency, certainly better governance,” he said. “We are seeing that reflected in better investor confidence, better business confidence, consumer confidence… such that we have been able to see 17 quarters of economic growth over the last few years.”

Straughn recounted the evolution of Barbados’ corporate tax policy, recalling that in 2018 corporation taxes were reduced to 5.5 per cent. He explained that further reforms were required following the OECD’s introduction of global rules and the minimum 15 per cent global tax, implemented in 2024.

“Barbados is no longer a low-tax jurisdiction because we have the global minimum tax in place – nine per cent for incorporated companies and then the top-up of six per cent,” he said, emphasising the importance of tax certainty for investors.

Straughn also highlighted ongoing efforts to modernise the business environment, citing digitisation initiatives by the Barbados Revenue Authority (BRA) and the Central Bank’s planned introduction of digital payments. “All of these things taken together should change not just the business climate… for the way that we do business,” he said.

Revenue Commissioner Jason King told the forum that Barbados remained fully committed to international standards while using exchange of information frameworks to support domestic revenue mobilisation.

He noted that the BRA had strengthened legislative and technical capacity, implemented a train-the-trainer programme, and was now preparing for the Common Reporting Standard 2.0 and the crypto asset reporting framework. King said the authority was ready to meet the challenges of this new phase head on.

(SZB)