The British Virgin Islands is to adopt a new investment policy intended to encourage companies to establish operations with substance on the islands.
 
The comments came from Premier and Minister of Finance Orlando Smith, who has reviewing the first year of BVI Forward, the Government’s action plan to strengthen and reposition the island’s financial services industry. He noted that the OECD, through its base erosion and profit shifting action plan, has emphasized that tax rules should look at the substance of transactions to determine where they should be taxed, to tackle “tax avoidance strategies that exploit gaps and mismatches in tax rules to artificially shift profits to low or no-tax locations.”
 
He said the territory would seek to encourage companies to establish operations in the islands, with a focus on substance, during BVI Forward’s second year. To facilitate such, BVI will reform immigration and labor laws, he said.