EU Finance Ministers (ECOFIN)
updated the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdiction at its meeting held on 18 February 2020.
Four countries or territories – Cayman Islands, Palau, Panama and Seychelles – have been added to the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, as they failed to comply with the required standards within the deadline. These join the eight jurisdictions – American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Samoa, Oman, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and US Virgin Islands – that were already on the list and remain non-compliant.
The EU list is a common tool for Member States to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfair tax competition. It complements and reinforces the reforms introduced by the Member States in the last years to tackle tax evasion and avoidance at EU level.
Under the EU listing process, jurisdictions are assessed against three main criteria – tax transparency, fair taxation and real economic activity. Those that fall short on any of these criteria are asked for a commitment to address the deficiencies within a set deadline.
The EU Commission and the EU Member States will continue the dialogue with those jurisdictions on the list and jurisdictions with pending commitments in advance of the next update of the EU list in October 2020. Another priority is to monitor countries that have been cleared to ensure that they apply tax good governance in practice.
