ECOFIN: Member States update EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

Following the update, Annex I of the EU list is made up of 16 jurisdictions due to their lack of commitment to improve their tax good governance or due to the lack of progress in delivering on their previous commitments. Those countries are American Samoa, Anguilla, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, the Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

At the same time, 18 jurisdictions now make up Annex II based on commitments they have taken to improve their tax good governance. The EU will closely monitor these commitments to make sure they are followed up on.

Under the EU process, jurisdictions are assessed against three main criteria – tax transparency, fair taxation and their implementation of BEPS minimum standards. Those that fall short on any of these criteria are asked for a commitment to address the deficiencies within a set deadline, and are included in the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I) if these commitments are not met.

Thanks to the EU listing process, many countries have already taken concrete measures to comply with tax good governance standards, with over 140 harmful regimes having been eliminated worldwide since 2017. The Commission will continue to work with Member States to improve the process by reviewing the criteria of the listing process, as well as the consequences for listed countries. Efforts to improve the process in this vein are ongoing in the relevant EU fora. Today’s decision to update the list was taken by Finance ministers at their meeting in Brussels.

More information is available here.

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