Key Takeaways
- A TIEA governs cross-border information exchange and serves a different purpose from a double tax treaty.
- Requests follow a defined process, with confidentiality protections and limits that prevent open-ended fishing for information.
- Jersey's TIEA network and legal framework align the jurisdiction with OECD transparency standards.
- Non-resident owners and their advisers should understand what information can be shared before structuring through Jersey.
Tax Information Exchange Agreements: Jersey's Place in Global Tax Transparency
Tax Information Exchange Agreements in Jersey are bilateral instruments through which the island shares tax information with partner countries on request. The island has operated this regime since 2007 and now holds 38 such agreements, administered by the office of the Comptroller of Revenue under a framework that meets the OECD's EOIR standard. This concerns any non-resident who owns a company, trust, foundation, or financial account connected to the jurisdiction.
This article explains what these agreements cover, how a request moves through the system, the safeguards that apply, and how the regime sits within the wider move toward automatic exchange. It is most relevant to foreign business owners and their advisers assessing their exposure to cross-border information sharing before or during a Jersey engagement.
What a TIEA Is and How It Differs from a Double Tax Treaty
A TIEA is an agreement between two countries to co-operate on tax matters by exchanging information. It allows the tax authority of one state to ask the other for information tied to a specific criminal or civil tax investigation.
The distinction from a double taxation agreement matters for planning. A DTA limits and defines how the two states tax the same income and can remove double taxation; a TIEA does neither, since its single purpose is information sharing to counter offshore evasion and fraud.
Exchange under a TIEA happens only on request. The partner authority must ask for specific information about an identified taxpayer, and nothing is shared automatically under this type of instrument.
The model was developed by the OECD Global Forum Working Group and released in April 2002. It is not itself binding; it offers two templates from which countries draft their own bilateral agreements. Where a full treaty is neither necessary nor appropriate, a TIEA fills the gap.
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Jersey's TIEA Network: How Many Agreements and With Which Partners
The island's network reaches 38 partner countries and spans most major trading and investment economies. For comparison, the count stood at 32 in December 2013, so the network has grown steadily rather than dramatically.
| Region | Partner countries |
|---|---|
| Europe | Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland |
| Americas | Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Mexico, United States |
| Asia-Pacific | Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea |
| Africa & other | South Africa, Turkey, Chile, Faroe Islands, Greenland |
Beyond these agreements, the firm operates 29 DTAs, made up of 15 full treaties and 14 partial ones covering specific income streams. Through a TIEA, a DTA, or the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, the island maintains EOIR coverage with every EU Member State.
The authoritative list is published and updated by the States of Jersey Government, and you should check the official partner list for any additions before relying on it.
The Legal Framework Behind Jersey's TIEAs
Each agreement broadly follows the OECD Model Agreement on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters. The operating mechanics sit in the Taxation (Exchange of Information with Third Countries) (Jersey) Regulations 2008, as amended, which set out how information is obtained and how a request progresses domestically.
Requests run through a named competent authority. The Minister for Treasury and Resources is the formal Jersey Competent Authority, with day-to-day administration handled by the office of the Comptroller of Revenue.
The bilateral network is reinforced by multilateral instruments. The island has the Multilateral Convention in place and activated the CRS Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement in time for exchanges in 2017, extending coverage well past its bilateral agreements.
A more recent step concerns digital assets. On 26 November 2024, the island signed the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement under the Crypto-Asset Reporting Framework, which provides for standardised reporting and automatic exchange of crypto-asset transaction data.
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Scope of Information Covered Under a Jersey TIEA
Each agreement defines information as any fact, statement, document, or record in any form. The scope is broadly consistent across agreements, although the taxes covered can vary by what the two parties agree.
The Comptroller can obtain and provide a wide range of records on request:
- Information held by banks, other financial institutions, and any person acting in an agency or fiduciary capacity, including nominees and trustees
- Ownership information for companies, partnerships, collective investment schemes, trusts, and foundations, covering every person in an ownership chain
- For trusts, details of settlors, trustees, protectors, and beneficiaries; for foundations, details of founders, council members, and beneficiaries
Two principles bound the exercise. A request must meet the "foreseeably relevant" test, meaning the information sought must be reasonably expected to bear on the tax affairs of the person under inquiry. Bank secrecy is not a valid ground for refusal, since the Regulations override general confidentiality provisions in domestic law.
How an Exchange of Information Request Works in Practice
A foreign authority cannot approach a Jersey bank or service provider directly. The request goes to the Deputy Director, International Tax at the office of the Comptroller of Revenue, and must include an account number or other identifier together with the taxpayer's address in the requesting country. The completed form is treated as a confidential communication between the two competent authorities.
Once the Comptroller accepts a request as reasonable to progress, one of two notices may issue:
- A notice served directly on the taxpayer who is the subject of the request.
- A Third-Party Notice served on a third party holding information about that taxpayer, with a copy sent to the taxpayer at the time it is given.
Where the requesting state asks that the taxpayer not be told, the Competent Authority requires the third party to keep the notice and its contents confidential. The affected taxpayer or third party may apply for judicial review before the Royal Court, but this must be started no later than 14 days after the requirement to produce information is made.
The Comptroller must not pass information to the foreign authority until the judicial review window expires, the application is withdrawn or dismissed, or the Royal Court permits disclosure.
No published official source sets a processing-time target or fee schedule for inbound requests. You can review the request procedure on the government site.
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Confidentiality, Safeguards and Limits on Requests
Not every request must be answered. The Comptroller may decline where a request does not conform to the relevant agreement, where the foreign authority has not first exhausted the means available at home (unless doing so would cause disproportionate difficulty), or where disclosure would run contrary to public policy.
Speculative requests are barred. A "fishing expedition" that fails to identify a specific taxpayer and investigation does not qualify, because the requesting state must particularise what it needs and why.
Jersey courts have drawn a clear line around the Comptroller's role. When deciding whether to issue a notice, the Comptroller does not resolve contentious points of the requesting country's tax law or determine whether the subject is actually liable to that country's tax.
Information sent abroad carries continuing restrictions. It must be kept confidential by the receiving state and used only for the tax purposes stated in the agreement, and it cannot be passed to third parties or used in non-tax criminal proceedings without specific authorisation. The island also cannot be compelled to reveal trade or business secrets, or to gather information it could not lawfully collect domestically.
How TIEAs Align Jersey with OECD Transparency Standards
The Global Forum carries out peer reviews and rates how well a jurisdiction implements the EOIR standard. "Compliant," the highest available rating, is awarded where the standard operates with no material deficiencies.
In its assessments, the island received that top rating for exchange of information on request. Those reviews applied the revised terms of reference, which weigh the availability and accessibility of beneficial ownership information more heavily.
Adaptation has continued in response. Following the initial peer review, the island amended its legislative framework to address the points raised, with the final amendment effective from 11 June 2024. You can read the Jersey peer review for the detail.
Compliance carries practical weight for foreign owners. The island has served as vice-chair of the Global Forum's AEOI working group and has stayed off the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, an outcome tied directly to its exchange-of-information posture.
What the TIEA Regime Means for Non-Resident Owners and Advisers
Treat information sharing as the default. If you hold assets, companies, trusts, or accounts connected to the island and your home country has a TIEA, DTA, or Multilateral Convention relationship with it, assume your home authority can request information and, in practice, does.
The reach extends through the whole ownership chain. The Comptroller can compel disclosure of beneficial ownership across companies, and for trusts and foundations down to settlors, protectors, council members, and beneficiaries. Even where no double-tax treaty or FATCA arrangement exists, financial details may still move through a TIEA.
EU-based clients have effectively no gap to rely on. Coverage with every EU Member State runs through one instrument or another, so the absence of a specific bilateral agreement rarely means the absence of an exchange route.
The procedural protection is narrow. The 14-day judicial review right before the Royal Court is the only way to contest a notice, and it does not stop disclosure once that window closes or proceedings end. Bank secrecy and nominee structures do not block a valid request.
Two further triggers deserve monitoring. Breach of the economic substance rules introduced in 2019 under the Taxation (Companies – Economic Substance) (Jersey) Law 2019 can prompt automatic spontaneous exchange with other authorities, independent of any request. The 2024 CARF signing means crypto-asset holdings will fall under automatic, not merely on-request, exchange.
Outlook for Jersey's TIEAs and Information Exchange
The bilateral network is essentially mature. Most major trading and investment partners are covered, and the Multilateral Convention closes most of the remaining gaps, so new standalone agreements are likely to be incremental and of diminishing practical weight.
The clear direction is toward automatic exchange. The path runs from on-request agreements to multilateral automatic exchange under CRS, and now to sector-specific automatic exchange under the crypto framework, with TIEAs remaining the fallback for jurisdictions outside CRS or for targeted investigations.
Adaptation is active rather than static. The final Global Forum amendment took effect on 11 June 2024, the crypto framework agreement was signed in November 2024, and on 22 October 2024 the States Assembly adopted legislation introducing an Income Inclusion Rule and a 15% Multinational Corporate Income Tax for in-scope entities, for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2025. Each step reinforces alignment with prevailing international tax norms.
Conclusion
For a foreign owner, the practical position is straightforward: information connected to the island can be shared with your home tax authority through a wide and overlapping set of channels, and confidentiality arrangements will not stand in the way of a valid request. The one safeguard, a 14-day judicial review window, is real but limited, and the direction of travel is firmly toward automatic exchange across more asset classes. Structure and report on the assumption of transparency, keep economic substance and crypto-reporting obligations under review, and confirm the partner status of your own country against the official list before you act.
How Expanship Can Help Your Business in Jersey
Expanship advises non-resident owners on what the island's exchange-of-information regime means for their structures, from beneficial ownership reporting to substance and crypto-asset obligations, and supports the wider task of setting up and running a compliant entity there.
- Company incorporation and structuring for foreign-owned entities
- Registered agent and registered office services
- Tax registration and filing with the Comptroller of Revenue
- Ongoing compliance management, including economic substance monitoring
- Accounting and bookkeeping
- Introductions to banking providers
To discuss your situation, contact Expanship Jersey.
Frequently Asked Questions
The island holds 38 Tax Information Exchange Agreements and has been exchanging information under them since 2007. It also maintains 29 double taxation agreements and broader coverage through the Multilateral Convention, so the total reach of its information-sharing network is wider than the TIEA count alone suggests.
No. A TIEA only governs the exchange of tax information; relief from double taxation comes from a double taxation agreement, which is a separate instrument. The island holds DTAs with a number of jurisdictions, but a TIEA on its own provides no double-tax relief.
Yes. The Comptroller of Revenue can obtain and provide ownership information across the entire ownership chain, including settlors, trustees, protectors, and beneficiaries of trusts, and founders, council members, and beneficiaries of foundations. Bank secrecy and nominee arrangements are not valid grounds to refuse a properly made request.
Usually a copy of any Third-Party Notice is sent to the taxpayer who is the subject of the request. Where the requesting authority asks that you not be notified, the Competent Authority can require the third party to keep the notice confidential, so notification is not guaranteed in every case.
The affected taxpayer or third party may apply for judicial review before the Royal Court, but the application must be commenced within 14 days of being required to produce the information. The Comptroller cannot release the information until that window expires or proceedings conclude, though this right does not prevent disclosure once the period passes.
Yes. The OECD Global Forum has rated the island "Compliant," its highest rating, for exchange of information on request, and the jurisdiction has remained off the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. It completed the legislative changes flagged in peer review, with the final amendment effective 11 June 2024.
Legal Disclaimer
The information provided in this article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or professional advice. While we strive to ensure the accuracy and timeliness of the content, laws and regulations are subject to change, and the application of laws can vary widely based on specific facts and circumstances.
Readers should not act upon this information without seeking professional counsel tailored to their individual situation. Expanship and its authors disclaim any liability for actions taken or not taken based on the content of this article.
For specific advice regarding your business setup, compliance requirements, or any legal matters, please consult with qualified legal and tax professionals in the relevant jurisdiction.
