EU Council updates tax blacklist

The EU tax blacklist now consists of 12 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

the EU tax blacklist now consists of 12 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

On October 4, 2022, the EU Council announced that it has decided to add Anguilla, Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos Islands to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

Turks and Caicos Islands are listed for the first time. Bahamas was once listed in 2018, and Anguilla in 2020.

The tax blacklist includes countries that either have not engaged in a constructive dialogue with the EU on tax governance or have failed to deliver on their commitments to implement the necessary reforms. Those reforms should aim to comply with a set of objective tax good governance criteria, which include implementation of international standards designed to prevent tax base erosion and profit shifting.

The reason for the inclusion of Anguilla, Bahamas, and Turks and Caicos Islands in the tax blacklist is that there are concerns that these three jurisdictions, which all have a zero or nominal only rate of corporate income tax, are attracting profits without real economic activity, among other things.

With these additions, the EU tax blacklist now consists of 12 jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.

From 2020, the EU Council updates the tax blacklist twice a year. The next revision of the tax blacklist is scheduled for February 2023.