Bermuda will implement the global minimum tax because it has little choice, says lawyer Rod Attride Stirling.

The Bermuda government issued a consultation paper on the global minimum tax in August and is now receiving comments from industry and other stakeholders on the proposed change under which businesses with more than €750 million in annual revenue would be taxed at a global minimum rate of 15 percent.

The Bermuda government has said the Bermuda rate is likely to be between 9 and 15 percent.

“I don’t think anyone welcomes new taxes,” says the chairman of ASW Law, which has a large re/insurance practice. “The new global tax is quite a radical change to the way the world approaches taxation.

“I don’t think the Bermuda government would ever have pushed for this, but given that it’s been imposed on us, it’s important that we act in a way that is intelligent and protects the jurisdiction."

“It’s important that we act in a way that is intelligent and protects the jurisdiction.”

Attride-Stirling adds in a video interview with Bermuda:Re+ILS: “There are some who think we should just turn our back on it and we can do that.

“But the problem is that the way the tax is going to work is that big companies with revenues in excess of €750 million a year will be subject to a global tax wherever they are, so if a Bermuda company falling within that category is not taxed in Bermuda, but it has subsidiaries or affairs in another country, then that company will be taxed on its Bermuda profits overseas.

“So Bermuda companies are going to be taxed if this new global tax comes into place, whatever the Bermuda government decides to do.”