NIA CHARLESTOWN NEVIS (November 19, 2020) — Representatives from the Financial Services Regulatory Commission and Inland Revenue Department on Nevis have been named to a recently established International Tax Unit set up within the office of the Comptroller of Inland Revenue in St. Kitts and Nevis.

Prime Minister Hon. Dr. Timothy Harris, Minister of Finance in the government of St. Kitts and Nevis, announced the establishment of the unit during the debate on the St. Christopher and Nevis (Mutual Exchange of Information in Taxation Matters (Amendment) Bill, 2020 at the November 17, 2020, sitting of the National Assembly in Basseterre.

“The unit that we have set up comprises in the main three functionaries – Ms. Adiola Moore, the Assistant Comptroller, Head of the Unit; Ms. Fredericia Hodge from the Inland Revenue Department on St. Kitts; and Ms. Janesha Daniel from the Inland Revenue Department on Nevis.

“We have drawn upon the professional support from both the federal end the Nevis Island Administration to have a coordinated response for matters to do with international taxation,” he said.

Beyond the International Tax Unit, an interdepartmental team has been established to provide support to the government in matters of cooperation and international tax matters.

The team of 11 officials drawn from across the federal government and the Nevis Island Administration (NIA) includes Ms. Heidi-Lynn Sutton, Regulator at the Financial Services Regulatory Commission in Nevis; Ms. Rhonda Nisbett-Browne, Senior Legal Counsel at the Legal Department in the NIA; Mrs. Joan Browne, Principal Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Finance in the NIA; and Mrs. Neva Manners-Limonta, Deputy Comptroller of the Inland Revenue Department on Nevis.

The Prime Minister, mover of the Bill, described the group as “a professional team of persons working to assist the country forward”.

He said the team has day to day oversight of the government’s response to issues related to international taxation and the provision of information to the appropriate authorities in other jurisdictions.

“I gather that the team has been working very hard. There have been a number of meetings and the work has been advancing very well,” he said.

The International Tax Unit was formalized with the passage of the St. Christopher and Nevis Mutual Exchange of Information in Taxation Matters (Amendment) Bill, 2020, in the National Assembly on November 17, 2020.

The legislation saw a change in the competent authority on the mutual exchange of information with respect to tax matters from the Financial Secretary to the Comptroller of Inland Revenue.

Prime Minister Harris said the Act is one of the necessary legislative amendments that had to be made, as St. Kitts and Nevis seeks to maintain its commitment to promote international standards of transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes.