Beach – Photo © haveseen – Fotolia
(BRUSSELS) – EU Member States on Tuesday removed the Bahamas, Belize, Seychelles, and Turks and Caicos Islands from the EU list of tax havens, or ‘non-cooperative jurisdictions’, for tax purposes.
The European Commission says the Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands were able to be fully delisted because they were successful in addressing deficiencies in their enforcement of economic substance requirements. Belize and Seychelles were moved to ‘Annex II’ pending results of a supplementary review by the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information. The Commission says the latest update to the list reflects EU efforts to promote tax transparency and fair taxation globally.
Based on the new update, ‘Annex I’ of the EU list is now made up of 12 jurisdictions that have not improved their tax good governance standards or made insufficient progress in delivering on their previous commitments. Those countries are: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, the Russian Federation, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.
Additionally, 10 jurisdictions now feature in Annex II based on commitments they have taken to improve their tax good governance. The EU executive says it will closely monitor the commitments to make sure they are followed up on. Thanks to the EU listing process, many countries have already taken concrete steps and measures to comply with tax good governance standards.
As part of the EU listing process, the Commission provides considerable support to third countries in strengthening their tools against tax abuse, as well as technical assistance to those that need it. The Commission says it is also working with Member States to further strengthen the EU listing criteria to ensure more tax transparency, while promoting the global implementation of minimum effective taxation rules.
The EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes is part of the EU’s external strategy on taxation and aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to promote tax good governance worldwide.
EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (Annex I)
