Agreement between the Government of New Zealand and the Government of Samoa on the exchange of information with respect to taxes
Whereas New Zealand and Samoa (“the Contracting States”
) recognise continuing cooperation and provision of assistance in criminal tax matters;
Whereas the Contracting States have long been active in international efforts in the fight against financial and other crimes, including the targeting of terrorist financing;
Whereas Samoa on the 9th April 2002 entered into a political commitment to the OECD's principles of effective exchange of information and actively participated in and co-chaired the OECD Global Forum on Taxation and the Sub-Group on Level Playing Field Issues;
Whereas the Contracting States wish to enhance and facilitate the terms and conditions governing the exchange of information with respect to taxes;
Now, therefore, the Contracting States have agreed to conclude the following Agreement, which contains obligations on the part of the Contracting States only:
Article 1
Object and scope of this agreement
The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall provide assistance through exchange of information that is foreseeably relevant to the administration and enforcement of the domestic laws of those States concerning taxes covered by this Agreement. Such information shall include information that is foreseeably relevant to the determination, assessment and collection of such taxes, the recovery and enforcement of tax claims, or the investigation or prosecution of tax matters. Information shall be exchanged in accordance with the provisions of this Agreement and shall be treated as confidential in the manner provided in Article 8. The rights and safeguards secured to persons by the laws or administrative practice of the Requested State remain applicable. The Requested State shall use its best endeavours to ensure that any such rights and safeguards are not applied in a manner that unduly prevents or delays effective exchange of information.
Article 2
Jurisdiction
A Requested State is not obligated to provide information which is neither held by its authorities nor in the possession or control of persons who are within its territorial jurisdiction.
Article 3
Taxes covered
2. This Agreement shall also apply to any identical or substantially similar taxes imposed after the date of signature of this Agreement in addition to, or in place of, the existing taxes. The Agreement shall also apply to such other taxes as may be agreed in an exchange of letters between the Contracting States. The competent authorities of the Contracting States shall notify each other of any substantial changes to the taxation and related information gathering measures covered by this Agreement.
Article 4
Definitions
2. As regards the application of this Agreement at any time by a Contracting State, any term not defined therein shall, unless the context otherwise requires, have the meaning that it has at that time under the law of that State, any meaning under the applicable tax laws of that State prevailing over a meaning given to the term under other laws of that State.
Article 5
Exchange of information upon request
2. If the information in the possession of the competent authority of the Requested State is not sufficient to enable it to comply with the request for information, that State shall use all relevant information gathering measures to provide the Applicant State with the information requested, notwithstanding that the Requested State may not need such information for its own tax purposes.
3. If specifically requested by the competent authority of an Applicant State, the competent authority of the Requested State shall provide information under this Article, to the extent allowable under its domestic laws, in the form of depositions of witnesses and authenticated copies of original records.
Article 6
Tax examinations abroad
2. At the request of the competent authority of one of the Contracting States, the competent authority of the other Contracting State may allow representatives of the competent authority of the first-mentioned State to be present at the appropriate part of a tax examination in the second-mentioned State.
3. If the request referred to in paragraph 2 is acceded to, the competent authority of the Contracting State conducting the examination shall, as soon as possible, notify the competent authority of the other State about the time and place of the examination, the authority or official designated to carry out the examination and the procedures and conditions required by the first-mentioned State for the conduct of the examination. All decisions with respect to the conduct of the tax examination shall be made by the State conducting the examination.
Article 7
Possibility of declining a request
2. The provisions of this Agreement shall not impose on a Contracting State the obligation to supply information which would disclose any trade, business, industrial, commercial or professional secret or trade process. Notwithstanding the foregoing, information of the type referred to in paragraph 4 of Article 5 shall not be treated as such a secret or trade process merely because it meets the criteria in that paragraph.
6. The Requested State may decline a request for information if the information is requested by the Applicant State to administer or enforce a provision of the tax law of the Applicant State, or any requirement connected therewith, which discriminates against a national of the Requested State as compared with a national of the Applicant State in the same circumstances.
Article 8
Confidentiality
Any information received by a Contracting State 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 State 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 State.
Article 9
Costs
Unless the competent authorities of the Contracting States otherwise agree, ordinary costs incurred in providing assistance shall be borne by the Requested State, and extraordinary costs incurred in providing assistance (including reasonable costs of engaging external advisors in connection with litigation or otherwise) shall be borne by the Applicant State. At the request of either Contracting State, the competent authorities shall consult as necessary with regard to this Article, and in particular the competent authority of the Requested State shall consult with the competent authority of the Applicant State in advance if the costs of providing information with respect to a specific request are expected to be significant.
Article 10
Implementation legislation
The Contracting States shall enact any legislation necessary to comply with, and give effect to, the terms of this Agreement.
Article 11
No prejudicial or restrictive measures
2. A “prejudicial or restrictive measure based on harmful tax practices”
is a measure applied by one Contracting State to residents or nationals of either Contracting State on the basis that the other Contracting State does not engage in effective exchange of information and/or because it lacks transparency in the operation of its laws, regulations or administrative practices, or on the basis of no or nominal taxes and one of the preceding criteria.
3. Without limiting the generality of paragraph 2, the term “prejudicial or restrictive measure”
includes the denial of a deduction, credit or exemption, the imposition of a tax, charge or levy, or special reporting requirements.
4. A “prejudicial or restrictive measure”
does not include generally applicable measures, applied by either State, such as Controlled Foreign Company rules, Foreign Investment Fund rules, transfer pricing rules, thin capitalisation rules, or general information reporting rules that relate to the disclosure of information from other countries or jurisdictions, or transactions with such countries or jurisdictions, such as record keeping requirements imposed on foreign owned subsidiaries to ensure access to information concerning parent companies.
Article 12
Mutual agreement procedure
Article 13
Entry into force
The Government of New Zealand and the Government of Samoa shall notify each other in writing through the diplomatic channel of the completion of their constitutional and legal procedures for the entry into force of this Agreement. This Agreement shall enter into force on the date of the last notification, and shall thereupon have effect for taxable periods beginning on or after 1 January following entry into force or, where there is no taxable period, for all charges to tax arising on or after 1 January following entry into force.
Article 14
Termination
1. This Agreement shall continue in effect indefinitely, but either of the Contracting States may, after the expiration of 3 years from the date of its entry into force, give to the other Contracting State through the diplomatic channel written notice of termination.