EU Commission is working on tax blacklist

The European Commission has announced that it started to work on the first EU list of "non-cooperative tax jurisdictions." It is a first step in a complex process that involves consultation of individual European states. At the time a preliminary assessment of all third countries implemented based on a set of key indicators was presented, the Commission explained in a statement.

Criteria considered by EU Commission are the strength of the economic ties with the EU, the magnitude of financial activity in the jurisdiction and stability factors indicating whether a jurisdiction would be considered by tax avoiders, as well as corruption and regulatory quality.

The list of countries with poor transparency and special schemes is very long, and includes China, Hong Kong and Macau, Bahamas, Antigua and Barbuda, Costa Rica, Indonesia, but also Israel and Georgia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago. The list of countries which do not apply the corporate tax rate is shorter: Bermuda, the Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, Jersey, Isle of Man, Guernsey.

According to the executive, a common EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions will have a much greater weight than the current patchwork of national lists "in dealing with third countries and prevent aggressive tax planning that abuse of the asymmetries between the different national systems .

Pierre Moscovici, commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customs, said the EU takes its international tax good governance commitments seriously. “It is reasonable for us to expect the same from our international partners. We want to have fair and open discussions with our partners on tax issues that concern us all in the global community. The EU list will be our tool to deal with third countries that refuse to play fair.”