INTERNATIONAL TAX PLAZA - The ECOFIN Council added Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Seychelles to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

During its meeting of October 17, 2023 the Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers of the European Union (ECOFIN) Council added Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Seychelles to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. At the same time British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica and the Marshall Islands were removed from the list.

Antigua and Barbuda, Belize and Seychelles were all three found to be lacking with regard to the exchange of tax information on request (criterion 1.2) and were therefore added to the list.

According to the ECOFIN Council, British Virgin Islands was removed from the list as it has amended its framework on exchange of information on request (criterion 1.2). British Virgin Islands will be reassessed in accordance with the OECD standard. Pending this reassessment British Virgin Islands has been included in Annex II.

According to the ECOFIN Council, Costa Rica was delisted because it has amended the harmful aspects of its foreign source income exemption regime (criterion 2.1).

According to the ECOFIN Council, Marshall Islands was delisted as it has made significant progress in enforcement of economic substance requirements (criterion 2.2).

As of October 17, 2023 the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes consists out of the following 16 urisdictions:

American Samoa;
Antigua and Barbuda;
Anguilla;
Bahamas;
Belize;
Fiji;
Guam;
Palau;
Panama;
Russia;
Samoa;
Seychelles;
Trinidad and Tobago;
Turks and Caicos Islands;
US Virgin Islands; and
Vanuatu.

State of play document (Annex II)

As stated above British Virgin Islands has been included in Annex II pending a reassessment in accordance with the OECD standard.

The ECOFIN Council removed four jurisdictions from the state of play document (Annex II).

Jordan and Qatar were removed because they fulfilled their commitments by amending a harmful tax regime. Montserrat and Thailand were removed because they fulfilled all their pending commitments related to country-by-country reporting of taxes paid.

The updated EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes and the State of play document (Annex II) can be found here.

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