EU updates tax haven blacklist, BVI not named
The European Union (EU) this week updated its tax haven blacklist and the BVI has not been named among the worst offenders.
This means that the BVI has managed to avoid that list for one year as it was upgraded to whitelist status in February 2020.
Whitelist status signals the country as a fully cooperative tax jurisdiction that is observing all of the tax good-governance standards.
This is good news for territory especially since Members of the European Parliament earlier this year voted to add the BVI, Guernsey, and Jersey to its tax havens blacklist; arguing that these territories are not compliant with international tax standards.
Analysts believe the pressure is a direct result of Brexit.
The 12 jurisdictions on the EU’s Annex I blacklist are American Samoa, Anguilla, Dominica, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
The EU removed Barbados from its blacklist of countries after the Caribbean country expressed anger over the decision four months ago.
The EU council said Dominica was placed on the blacklist because it lacked a rating of at least “largely compliant” from the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
In the meantime, eight other countries are on this grey list — Australia, Barbados, Botswana, Eswatini, Jamaica, Jordan, Maldives, and Thailand.
Whitelist status signals the country as a fully cooperative tax jurisdiction that is observing all of the tax good-governance standards.
This is good news for territory especially since Members of the European Parliament earlier this year voted to add the BVI, Guernsey, and Jersey to its tax havens blacklist; arguing that these territories are not compliant with international tax standards.
Analysts believe the pressure is a direct result of Brexit.
The 12 jurisdictions on the EU’s Annex I blacklist are American Samoa, Anguilla, Dominica, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
The EU removed Barbados from its blacklist of countries after the Caribbean country expressed anger over the decision four months ago.
The EU council said Dominica was placed on the blacklist because it lacked a rating of at least “largely compliant” from the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes.
In the meantime, eight other countries are on this grey list — Australia, Barbados, Botswana, Eswatini, Jamaica, Jordan, Maldives, and Thailand.
