Fair taxation: Member States update EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions

EU Member States added two countries – Barbados and Anguilla – to the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions. Both jurisdictions were added to the list due to tax transparency concerns. At the same time, the EU has now completely delisted the Cayman Islands and Oman, since they have now delivered on their pending commitments to remove a harmful tax regime and increase tax transparency respectively. Today’s update keeps the number of constituents of the EU list at 12: 

American Samoa

Anguilla

Barbados

Fiji

Guam

Palau

Panama

Samoa

Seychelles

Trinidad and Tobago

Vanuatu 

US Virgin Islands

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, and run the risk of being added to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions if these commitments are not met. That said, because of the coronavirus pandemic, Member States again decided to grant certain extensions to some countries on the current ‘grey list’ to fulfil the commitments they have taken. 

This is the first update of the list since the Commission announced plans in July to review the geographic scope and criteria of the listing process, and to evaluate the defensive measures currently being applied by the EU and individual Member States against listed countries and territories.