S.I. No. 440/2015 - Exchange of Information Relating to Tax Matters (Commonwealth of The Bahamas) Order 2015.

1. Either Contracting Party may terminate the Agreement by serving a notice of termination through diplomatic channels.

2. Such termination shall become effective on the first day of the month following the expiration of a period of six months after the date of receipt of notice of termination by the other Contracting Party.

3. Following termination of the Agreement the Contracting Parties shall remain bound by the provisions of Article 8 with respect to any information obtained under the Agreement.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned, being duly authorised thereto, have signed this Agreement.

DONE at Nassau on the 12th day of December 2014 and at Dublin on the 12th day of January 2015.

FOR IRELAND

FOR THE COMMONWEALTH OF THE BAHAMAS

______________Charles FlanaganMinister for Foreign Affairs and Trade

______________Michael B. HalkitisMinister of State for Finance

GIVEN under the Official Seal of the Government,

13 October 2015.

ENDA KENNY,

Taoiseach.

4. The Contracting Parties may also agree on other forms of dispute resolution.

Article 11

Implementation Legislation

The Contracting Parties shall, on entry into force of this Agreement, have any legislation necessary to comply with, and give effect to, the terms of this Agreement.

Article 12

Entry into Force

This Agreement shall enter into force when each Party has notified the other of the completion of its necessary internal procedures for entry into force. Upon entry into force, it shall have effect

(

a

) for criminal tax matters on that date, but only in respect of tax periods beginning on or after 1 January 2004, or where there is no taxable period, all charges to tax arising on or after 1 January 2004; and

(

b

) for all other matters covered in Article 1 on that date, but only in respect of taxable periods beginning on or after that date, or where there is no taxable period, all charges to tax arising on or after that date.

Article 13

Termination

5. The requested Party may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the applicant Party to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the applicant Party, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national or citizen of the requested Party as compared with a national of the applicant Party in the same circumstances.

Article 8

Confidentiality

Any information received by a Contracting Party under this Agreement shall be treated as confidential and may be disclosed only to persons or authorities (including courts and administrative bodies) in the jurisdiction of the Contracting Party concerned with the assessment or collection of, the enforcement or prosecution in respect of, or the determination of appeals in relation to, the taxes covered by this Agreement. Such persons or authorities shall use such information only for such purposes. They may disclose the information in public court proceedings or in judicial decisions. The information may not be disclosed to any other person or entity or authority or any other jurisdiction without the express written consent of the competent authority of the requested Party.

Article 9

Costs

Incidence of costs incurred in providing assistance shall be agreed by the Contracting Parties pursuant to Article 10.

Article 10

Mutual Agreement Procedure

6. The competent authority of the requested Party shall acknowledge receipt of the request to the competent authority of the applicant Party, shall advise if there are any unexpected delays in obtaining the requested information, and shall use its best endeavours to forward the requested information to the applicant Party with the least possible delay.

Article 6

Tax Examinations Abroad

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of

16

th October

, 2015.

WHEREAS it is enacted by section 826(1B) (inserted by

section 35

of the

Finance Act 2007

(No. 11 of 2007)) of the

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997

(No. 39 of 1997) that where the Government by order declare that arrangements specified in the order have been made with the government of any territory outside the State in relation to exchanging information for the purposes of the prevention and detection of tax evasion in the case of taxes of any kind or description imposed by the laws of the State or by the laws of that territory, and that it is expedient that those arrangements should have the force of law, and that the order so made is specified in Part 3 of Schedule 24A of the

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997

, then subject to section 826 of that Act, the arrangements shall, notwithstanding any enactment, have the force of law as if such order were an Act of the Oireachtas on and from the date of the insertion of a reference to the order into Part 3 of Schedule 24A;

AND WHEREAS it is further enacted by

section 826

(6) of the

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997

that where such an order is proposed to be made, a draft of the order shall be laid before Dáil Éireann and the order shall not be made until a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann;

AND WHEREAS a draft of the following Order has been laid before Dáil Éireann and a resolution approving of the draft has been passed by Dáil Éireann;

NOW, the Government, in exercise of the powers conferred on them by

section 826

(1B) of the

Taxes Consolidation Act 1997

, hereby order as follows