Barbados has been removed from the European Union’s (EU) black list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, the EU Council announced today
Two other Caribbean countries, Bermuda and Aruba have also been removed.
In a statement, the Council explained that Barbados has committed to addressing the EU concerns and has therefore been moved to the so-called grey list of countries under scrutiny for their tax practices.
Bermuda has also been added to the grey list while Aruba was removed entirely from the list because it is in the process of changing its tax rules to make them compliant with EU requirements.
The EU statement said: “Barbados has made commitments at a high political level to remedy EU concerns regarding the replacement of its harmful preferential regimes by a measure of similar effect, whilst Aruba and Bermuda have now implemented their commitments. At the same time, Bermuda remains committed to address EU concerns in the area of collective investment funds.
“As a consequence, Barbados and Bermuda will be moved from annex I of the conclusions to annex II, which includes jurisdictions that have undertaken sufficient commitments to reform their tax policies, while Aruba will be removed entirely from both Annexes.”
The three islands were added to the list in March.
The Council today decided to remove Aruba, Barbados and Bermuda from the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
The EU list is contributing to on-going efforts to prevent tax avoidance and promote good governance principles such as tax transparency, fair taxation or international standards against tax base erosion and profit shifting.
The list was established in December 2017 and is contained in annex I of the conclusions adopted by the Council. It was revised in March 2019, following an in-depth review of the implementation of the commitments taken by third country jurisdictions that are part of the process.
Barbados has made commitments at a high political level to remedy EU concerns regarding the replacement of its harmful preferential regimes by a measure of similar effect, whilst Aruba and Bermuda have now implemented their commitments. At the same time, Bermuda remains committed to address EU concerns in the area of collective investment funds. As a consequence, Barbados and Bermuda will be moved from annex I of the conclusions to annex II, which includes jurisdictions that have undertaken sufficient commitments to reform their tax policies, while Aruba will be removed entirely from both Annexes.
As a result, 12 jurisdictions remain on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions: American Samoa, Belize, Dominica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, United Arab Emirates, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
The work on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions is a dynamic process. The Council will continue to regularly review and update the list in 2019, whilst it has requested a more stable process as from 2020 (two updates per year).
