Regulations for international service providers
Friday March 04 2011 | 03:10 AM

The International Corporate and Trust Services Providers Bill 2011 will not have a negative impact on the international business sector or the service providers.

That is according to the Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Senator Darcy Boyce. His comments came as he led off the debate on that bill in the Upper Chamber yesterday afternoon, where he explained that the bill which has been a long time in the making, and will provide a framework for improved regulation of the providers of services to the international companies and trusts.

“I believe that this legislation will be very good for the service providers; it will help them to protect themselves better. That is important in the service that they are providing, when you are providing services to the international business companies, who tend to be a lot less forgiving than local businesspersons in terms of the quality of the work that may come out from you,” he stated.

He noted, however, that many of the requirements under the bill are already being done, and he said when officially implemented will bring the others in line.

“This bit of legislation is important for the country also because the international business sector is very important for the country. We do not have very precise measurements of the level of contribution of the sector to the economy but...we have heard references that it is as much as 60 per cent of our corporation tax revenues come from the sector, and that ... translates into a lot of money – probably around $200 to $250 million a year in revenue – and that is an important bit of revenue to come to the country.”

Senator Boyce added that even in the tough times that the international business community has faced since 2007, they have still been contributing very substantially to the tax revenues of the country.