REGIONAL: Anguilla, Dominica, removed from EU tax haven black list, Trinidad and Tobago remains

SOURCE: CMC – The European Union has removed Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles from its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.

The EU said that its Council had on Tuesday  that all three countries had previously been placed on the list because they did not meet the EU’s tax transparency criteria of being ranked as at least ‘largely compliant’ by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Global Forum regarding the exchange of information on request.

It said that the delisting was preceded by the forum’s decision to grant these jurisdictions a supplementary review on this matter.

It said pending the granted supplementary review, Anguilla, Dominica and Seychelles are now included in the state of play document “which covers jurisdictions that do not yet comply with all international tax standards but that have committed to implementing tax good governance principles.

“Costa Rica, Hong Kong, Malaysia, North Macedonia, Qatar and Uruguay have also been added to this document, while Australia, Eswatini and Maldives have implemented all the necessary tax reforms and have therefore been removed from it,” the EU added.

But the EU said nine jurisdictions, including Trinidad and Tobago, the United States Virgin islands, remain on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. The others are American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa and Vanuatu.

Twice a year the EU Council revises its list of non-cooperative jurisdictions and an accompanying state of play document. It said that this practice was established in 2017 to promote global good governance in taxation and inform member states on which non-EU jurisdictions engage in abusive tax practices. They can then employ defensive measures to protect their tax revenues and fight against tax fraud, evasion and abuse.

“The criteria for listing are in line with international tax standards and focus on tax transparency, fair taxation and prevention of tax base erosion and profit shifting. The Council engages with the countries that do not meet these criteria, monitors their progress and regularly reviews and updates this list.”