MONACO: DOUBLE TAX TREATIES

Monaco Double Tax Treaties

Monaco has a taxation treaty only with France, and even this treaty, which forms part of the 1963 portmanteau agreement between France and Monaco, is not a double taxation treaty in the traditional sense. It provides for income tax to be levied against French nationals who have or will transfer their residence to Monaco (see Personal Taxation), the imposition of business profits taxes on certain categories of companies and the exchange of information.

The tax treaty between the two territories was modified in October 2001 'to correct abnormal evolutions in the deduction of executive pay from Monaco's tax on corporate profits'. This included a decision to ensure that French citizens living in Monaco since 1989 must pay a wealth tax from the beginning of 2002 onwards.

Following negotiations with the OECD, Monaco agreed in early 2009 to increase its transparency with foreign tax authorities in the hope that the OECD will remove it from its list of uncooperative jurisdictions. The Monaco government said that it was following "recent evolutions in the area of bank secrecy and information exchange" undertaken by jurisdictions such as Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria.

The Principality of Monaco also stated that it is prepared to expand the scope of an anti-fraud agreement that it is negotiating with the European Commission so that the agreement incorporates the OECD standards fully.

Monaco expressed the hope that this agreement can be finalised by the end of 2009, so as to allow it to exchange information in all tax matters with all European Union member states that are signatories to the agreement. In addition, Monaco announced that it is prepared to negotiate tax information exchange agreements with all countries that wish to do so, and in particular with those members of the G-20 that are not also members of the EU.

Welcoming the announcement, OECD Secretary General Angel Gurría said: “The Principality of Monaco has made a very important step by recognising that in today’s financial world meeting international standards is no longer optional. Governments require it, customers require it, and competitors require it.”

Monaco was identified as a 'tax haven' by the OECD in 2000 and included in an OECD list of uncooperative tax havens issued in 2002 after failing to join other financial centres in committing formally to take steps towards increased transparency and exchange of information.

Back in February 2008, Monaco was already making moves towards Prince Albert II of Monaco reportedly gave a commitment to Germany that the jurisdiction will cooperate in the sharing of information for tax purposes.

According to reports in the European media, the Prince agreed to start negotiations for a bilateral agreement between the two states' revenue authorities, following a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

"The Prince gave his agreement to cooperation between the German and Monaco authorities as well as improved data exchange in the fight against tax fraud, money laundering and corruption," a German government spokesman told AFP.

Finance Minister Gilles Tonelli revealed to a news conference at the time that: "Monaco does not intend to distance itself from a general movement of information exchange as long as it is really applied by everyone."

Prince Albert has made it his priority to clean up Monaco's image as a 'secretive tax haven,' telling France's TF1 in 2008 that: "We must absolutely free ourselves of this equation that Monaco equals laundering."

In May 2008, French President Nicolas Sarkozy announced the upcoming ratification of Franco-Monegasque agreements and conventions concerning administrative cooperation, judicial assistance and investor security. This was completed on May 31.

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Monaco Other International Agreements

Mutual Assistance Treaties: Until 2001 the principality had no mutual legal assistance treaties other than with France, but it has now signed coperation agreements with Spain, Belgium, Portugal, and Luxembourg.

In January 2002 Switzerland's money laundering control authority announced that the country had signed an agreement with Monaco to promote the exchange of information in international cases of money laundering.

Monaco has legislated effectively against money-laundering and associated criminal activities. By law no 1162 of 1993 Monaco passed all crimes money laundering legislation corresponding to the standards adopted by other jurisdictions and which requires financial institutions to carry out internal checks on their clients and to report any suspicious transactions to the Service de Information et de Controle Sur Les Circuits Financiers (SICCFIN) the regulatory body responsible for monitoring money laundering.

Additionally, when Government agents become aware of facts that relate to drug trafficking or criminal conduct they will prepare a report that they submit to the Ministry of State which may in turn send on the information to the competent foreign authorities, except where those foreign authorities do not have secrecy rules equivalent to those in Monaco.

Under Article 308 of the Monegasque Commercial Code and under Article 57 of the French Banking Law criminal sanctions are imposed on anyone who makes an unauthorized disclosure relating to matters governed by banking secrecy laws unless a specified exception applies by law. Disclosure can be made pursuant to criminal proceedings, requests for information from various government bodies such as customs and excise, pursuant to a court order in certain civil proceedings and where the provisions of a specific treaty apply as in the cases of the Hague Convention on Taking of Evidence Abroad on Civil or Commercial Matters 1927, the Vienna Convention against the Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances 1988 and the Treaty on Assistance in Judicial Matters between France and Monaco 1949.

Banking secrecy does not apply in regard to a request for information from an account holder's heirs and legatees, the account holder's authorized representative, against a spouse who has the appropriate court order, where one of the joint account holders wishes to release the bank from its secrecy obligation and the other account holders are not unduly prejudiced thereby, in the face of a request by a minor's representatives and in the face of a request by the legal representatives of a corporate body.

In December, 2005, Monaco's Prince Albert II and French President Jacques Chirac signed new agreements regulating the Franco-Monegasque relationship. The agreements include:

The revision normalises Monaco’s relationship with its larger neighbour, putting the two States on equal footing, updating the 1930 convention, and giving the Principality the autonomy promised in the build up to its entry into the Council of Europe. The agreement removes the restriction whereby French civil servants are appointed to many important positions in Monaco.

Given so many exemptions, it can be seen that the strict banking confidentiality which one associates with offshore financial havens does not apply in Monaco.

French nationals are in a particularly compromised position. The bank of France has considerable control over the Monaco banking system. Bankers in the Principality must respond to inquiries from the Bank of France and information communicated may be passed on to the French tax authorities and used either in the context of French criminal proceedings or in accordance with French law on international judicial assistance in criminal matters and in this way information may even be passed on to the appropriate authorities in a third country.

In October 2001 France and Monaco reached an agreement on initiatives to counter money laundering in the principality. Monaco significantly strengthened its stance against money laundering activities by doubling the number of staff who trace the money launderers as well as pledging to report more suspicious transactions.

Monaco has also undertaken to increase its cooperation with the Financial Oversight Commission to revise the rules governing investment management companies and improve upon regulation and transparency in general.

The statement also stressed that the OECD and the FATF have 'noted progress by Monaco in the fight against money laundering.'

In September, 2002, Liechtenstein's Head of Government, Otmar Hasler said that the Principality had concluded an agreement with Monaco over the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing.

United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime: In December 2000, Monaco signed the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organised Crime in Palermo, Sicily, to demonstrate the country's commitment to stamping out money laundering. The treaty went into effect in 2003, and has been signed by 147 countries.

The new treaty follows the OECD Fiscal Committee's recommendation that its members ban anonymous accounts and require identification of customers. Under the treaty, countries must also require banks to keep accurate records of accounts and report suspicious transactions. In addition, accounts must be open to inspection by domestic law enforcement officials. Money laundering is criminalised, with sanctions against the people who do the laundering, counsel it, or acquire the ill-gotten gains.

However, the treaty does not go as far as the OECD's recommendation that countries re-examine existing practices - presumably with a view towards changing them - that prevent tax authorities having access to bank information for purposes of exchanging it in criminal tax prosecutions. In addition, the treaty doesn't deal with correspondent accounts.

An International Monetary Fund assessment of Monaco's financial supervisory and regulatory regimes in September, 2003, confirmed the Principality's reputation as a well regulated jurisdiction. The IMF observed that: 'The Principality of Monaco has in place a comprehensive legal framework, supervisory structure, and practices that support a well regulated financial environment.'

It went on to add that: 'The authorities have over the past two years adopted a strongly proactive approach to supervision, especially in the AML/CFT area. This emphasis is appropriate to a system largely dominated by internationally active private banking and related financial services, the supervision of which benefits from close collaboration with the French supervisory authorities,' and concluded by suggesting that:

'Monaco's proactive stance, crucial to reducing the potential for reputational risk, could be enhanced by further developing the cooperation, additions to the AML/CFT regime, and some fine-tuning of supervisory arrangements.'

Recommendations made by the multilateral body included the speedy completion of negotiations on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) currently under discussion by the Monegasque Financial Intelligence Unit and the French Banking Commission, the intensification of work on MOUs with other foreign supervisory authorities, and increased due diligence for higher risk customers, including politically exposed figures and their associates.

In 2004, Monaco was forced to join the EU's Savings Tax Directive regime, and agreed to impose a withholding tax on the interest income of EU residents at the same rate as Austria, Belgium and Luxembourg (initially 15%, rising to 20% from July 1, 2008) and to hand over 75 per cent of such revenues to the Member State of the EU resident concerned. Monaco also agreed to exchange information on request in criminal or civil cases of tax fraud or similar misbehaviour. The new regime came into operation from July 1, 2005, and it remains to be seen what kind of effect it will have on Monaco's banking sector.

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