The European blacklist has existed since 2017 and is updated twice a year. Countries are branded if they are “non-cooperative on tax matters”, for example if they lack transparency in taxation, do not practice fair taxation or do not respect other international standards. At their meeting in Brussels, finance ministers added Russia, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands to the list. There are now sixteen countries and jurisdictions on the list.
As for Russia, the new legislation adopted last year was assessed against the criteria of good tax governance. Russian commitments to address what are considered harmful aspects of a special regime for international holding companies have not been fulfilled. Moreover, the war in Ukraine has brought the dialogue between the European Union and Russia to a standstill.
In addition to a black list, the European Union also maintains a gray list of countries that have made commitments to adapt their legislation to the standards of good tax governance. The list aims to recognize constructive efforts and motivate countries that do cooperate with the EU to apply the principles of tax good governance. On this list, Qatar is given more time to implement promised reforms, which the EU said could not be completed in time due to constitutional reforms. The Gulf state will therefore not be moved to the blacklist for the time being.
The sixteen jurisdictions now on the European blacklist are American Samoa, Anguilla, The Bahamas, The British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, The Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, The Turkish – and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu. The list will be updated again in October.
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