Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with the Premier of the British Virgin Islands on closing potential tax loopholes as a result of revelations in the Pandora Papers.

The British Virgin Islands (BVI) regularly share confidential information on beneficial ownership and tax with UK law enforcement and tax authorities. They provided information that made the UK's first Unexplained Wealth Order possible. The BVI have committed to work towards introducing a publicly accessible register of company beneficial ownership, along with the other Overseas Territories.

The BVI participate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's (OECD) Common Reporting Standard, which is an agreement to automatically exchange financial account information with other jurisdictions. This means that they supply information on account holders who are foreign tax residents. This reciprocal, automatic exchange of financial information addresses the secrecy that facilitates offshore tax evasion and provides evidence of tax non-compliance. The BVI are a member of the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS), signalling their commitment to fighting BEPS risks by implementing the BEPS minimum standards. They have also committed to implementing the OECD's two pillar solution to address the tax challenges arising from the digitalisation of the economy. The UK is providing assistance and support ahead of BVI's evaluation by the Financial Action Task Force.