Above: the British Virgin Islands

By the Caribbean Journal staff

The British Virgin Islands and the United States have officially signed an intergovernmental agreement relating to the latter’s FATCA act.

The FATCA law requires, among other provisions, US citizens living outside the US to report their foreign bank accounts to the Internal Revenue Service.

The agreement was signed by British Virgin Islands Premier Dr Orlando Smith at the US Treasury Department in Washington.

“The formal signing of the IGA is the final step in this phase of FATCA implementation,” he said. “This signing allows financial institutions organized in the Virgin Islands to prepare for the implementation of FATCA on the basis that there will be an effective IGA in place by January 1, 2015.”

The government of the British Virgin Islands first announced that it would be entering negotiations with the US government on such an agreement in April 2013.

The two sides reportedly concluded talks on the agreement in mid-March.

At the time, Smith said the move represented an “important signal of BVIs commitment to global standards on transparency.”