At the meeting of 23 January 2018 the Council is expected to remove a number of jurisdictions from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters. This follows commitments made by the jurisdictions concerned since the list was published in December 2017.
Taxation - Non-cooperative jurisdictions
The Council is expected to remove Barbados, Grenada, the Republic of Korea, Macao SAR, Mongolia, Panama, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates from the EU's list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in taxation matters.
This follows commitments made by these jurisdictions since the list was published on 5 December 2017. Letters signed at political level have been assessed, and member states agree that the commitments made justify removing these 8 jurisdictions from the list.
The decision is due to be taken without discussion, by an amendment to the Council's December conclusions. The 8 jurisdictions will be moved from annex I of the conclusions (non-cooperative jurisdictions) to annex II (cooperation with respect to commitments taken).
Implementation of the commitments made, as well as of recommendations made by the Council to address open issues, will be carefully monitored.
The decision will leave 9 of the original 17 jurisdictions on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions. These are American Samoa, Bahrain, Guam, Marshall Islands, Namibia, Palau, Saint Lucia, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago. Annex I of the conclusions includes recommendations on steps to take to be de-listed.
Part of the EU's external strategy for taxation, the EU list is intended to contribute to ongoing efforts to prevent tax fraud and promote good governance worldwide. It was prepared in 2017 in parallel with the OECD global forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes.
Whereas the list is to be revised at least once a year, the working group responsible for preparing it can recommend an update at any time.
Letters are due to be sent in February 2018 to 8 jurisdictions in the Caribbean, requesting that commitments be made to remedy EU concerns. These jurisdictions were included in the initial screening process that led to establishment of the list. However, the screening was put on hold following the tropical storms that struck the Caribbean region in September 2017.
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