Aruba, Barbados, and Bermuda have been removed from the EU’s blacklist on non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.
Bermuda and Barbados will be moved from Annex I of the conclusions (the blacklist) to Annex II (the greylist), which includes jurisdictions that have undertaken sufficient commitments to reform their tax policies, while Aruba will be removed completely from both.
The list contributes to the EU’s ongoing strategy to prevent tax avoidance and promote good governance, such as tax transparency, fair taxation or international standards against tax base erosion and profit shifting.
Jurisdictions were assessed based upon three criteria: tax transparency, good governance, and real economic activity, as well as one indicator, the existence of a zero corporate tax rate.
The list was established in December 2017 and was revised to include Aruba, Barbados, and Bermuda in March 2019, following an in-depth review of the implementation of the commitments taken by third country jurisdictions that are part of the process.
In justification of the decision, the European Council noted: “Barbados has made commitments at a high political level to remedy EU concerns regarding the replacement of its harmful preferential regimes by a measure of similar effect, whilst Aruba and Bermuda have now implemented their commitments.”
“At the same time, Bermuda remains committed to addressing EU concerns in the area of collective investment funds.”
There are 12 jurisdictions remaining on the blacklist, including Guam and the US Virgin Islands.
The EU list is a dynamic process, and the Council will continue to review and update the list regularly in 2019.
It has requested a more stable process from 2020, which will include two updates to the list per year.
