On 22 February the Council concluded the revision of the list of European Union countries and territories considered non-cooperative for tax purposes. Dominica was added to the list and Barbados was removed.
On the 5 December 2017 the ministers of finance of the Member States approved the first list of EU tax havens. This list is updated at least once a year and the criteria to be included or eliminated are based on three factors: 1) fiscal transparency; 2) fair taxation; 3) the implementation of BEPS measures.
To determine the degree of compliance in matters of transparency, the EU considers the most recent results of the peer review of the exchange of information on request carried out by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes of the OECD. Based on this peer review, the jurisdictions can be considered: compliant, largely compliant, partially compliant or non-compliant.
To fulfil the criteria of fiscal transparency, the EU has determined that the reviewed jurisdiction must obtain a minimum qualification of ‘largely compliant’. In its last review, Dominica obtained a ‘partially compliant’ qualification and, at the time of the review, had not made the necessary adjustments to obtain the required EU qualification. For this motive, Dominica has been included in the updated list of non-compliant countries and territories.
Barbados had been included on the so-called ‘blacklist’ of the EU on 7 October 2020 for failing to meet the qualification criteria in the peer review of the exchange of information on request. However, after requesting an additional review, in which the country informed the Global Forum that they had achieved significant improvements in the tax application and compliance based on the recommendations in the last review, and the Peer Review Team accepted their request and conducted a complementary review to verify their level of compliance.
Thus the Council removed Barbados from the blacklist and included it in Annex II of the conclusions, which contains the countries that have committed to complying with the aforementioned EU criteria.
There are twelve countries and territories considered non-compliant in Annex I of the Council’s conclusions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Dominica, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, United States Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
Dr Alma D. Virto Aguilar
Postdoctoral Researcher ETICCs Research Group
