Singapore on Friday joined the white list of countries that have fully implemented international standards to fight cross-border tax evasion set by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Finance Ministry said, according to dpa. It made the list after signing a bilateral tax agreement, its 12th, with France. Both countries signed a protocol to include the OECD standards in their standing tax agreement, a ministry statement said. By signing the 12th bilateral tax agreement, Singapore, which had been under international pressure to improve banking transparency, met the requirement set by OECD to get on its white list. The OECD has drawn up black, grey and white lists of countries based on their willingness to adhere to its standards for the exchange of information for tax purposes upon request. It put Singapore on the grey list as a state committed to the international standard on sharing information on taxes but not yet substantially implementing it. "We will not stop at 12 agreements. We expect to sign several more by the end of the year," said Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam. On Friday, the city-state also signed a protocol with Brunei to include the OECD standards in their existing tax agreement, according to the ministry. In October, Singapore"s parliament passed a bill to bring the city-state"s tax law into line with the OECD standards.
