The black list is growing. The 27 EU member states will add to their list of tax havens the Cayman Islands, British overseas territory, and Panama, three sources in Brussels said on Thursday.
The 27 ambassadors of the countries of the Union made the decision Wednesday to "blacklist" these two territories, as well as Seychelles and Palau, which must be confirmed by the EU finance ministers, during their meeting in Brussels next Tuesday.
Suspension for Turkey
Turkey - which also had commitments to fulfill - "escapes the black list," said the other source. This country, which was to adopt measures at the end of 2019 for an automatic exchange of tax information with the EU states, has not implemented them. But, "we give him a little more time," added this source, while relations between the EU and Turkey have been strained since the purges carried out by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after the attempted coup of 2016 in this country.
The EU blacklist currently includes eight countries or jurisdictions: American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
Limited sanctions
The Cayman Islands are the first British overseas territory to be included in the EU blacklist. "The main reason is that they have not implemented the necessary reforms," promised to the Union before the end of 2019, said one of the two sources. The Cayman Islands are in particular accused of having legislation facilitating the establishment of offshore structures.
Panama, which was removed from the EU blacklist in 2018 after committing to reform, is listed again because it failed to meet certain criteria.
The EU finance ministers had drawn up their blacklist for the first time in December 2017 following several scandals, including the Panama Papers and LuxLeaks, to better fight the tax evasion of multinationals and large fortunes. The sanctions against “blacklisted” countries are quite limited: it is simply planned to freeze the European funds they could have received.
Economy
Nine notorious tax havens could escape EU listing altogether, worries Oxfam
Economy
Tax havens: France formalizes the update of its black list with six new countries
- Europe
- evasion
- Minister of Finances
- Economy
- tax system
- Tax fraud
- EU
- Tax heavens