News Americas, New York, NY, October 9, 2024: Three Caribbean territories, including a US jurisdiction, remain on the European Union’s latest blacklist of tax havens. The islands are Anguilla, Trinidad and Tobago, and the US Virgin Islands (USVI).
“The Council regrets that these jurisdictions are not yet cooperative on tax issues and invites them to improve their legal framework to resolve the identified issues,” stated the Council of the EU, which consists of the 27 member states of the European Union.
Trinidad and Tobago’s Finance Minister, Colm Imbert, recently urged the opposition to support legislation aimed at addressing the country’s inclusion on the EU blacklist. On September 13, Imbert introduced the Miscellaneous Provisions (Global Forum) Bill 2024 in the House of Representatives. He highlighted the importance of adopting recommendations from the EU’s Global Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorism Financing Fund, which reviewed T&T’s tax transparency legislation in March.
“We risk not getting off the blacklist if we don’t accept the EU’s recommendations,” Imbert warned at the time.
Similarly, USVI Governor Albert Bryan has defended the territory’s removal from the list since 2019, arguing that the blacklist is unfair. Anguilla was added to the list in 2022 due to concerns that the island facilitates offshore structures without significant economic activity.
On a positive note, Antigua and Barbuda was removed from the blacklist on October 8, following updates to its legal framework. The Global Forum has given the country an additional review, with further assessments pending.
The EU’s blacklist of tax havens was created in 2017, after scandals such as the Panama Papers increased pressure on the EU to fight tax evasion. The list is updated twice a year, with the next revision scheduled for February 2025.
What are the listing criteria?
To be considered cooperative for tax purposes, jurisdictions are examined based on a series of criteria, determined by the Council.
The criteria are designed to evolve over time so that they align with international standards of good tax governance, developed in particular in Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forums such as the Global Forum on Transparency and Information Exchange . for tax purposes, the forum on harmful tax practices and the comprehensive framework for base erosion and profit shifting.
The listing criteria relate to tax transparency, fair taxation and measures against base erosion and profit shifting (‘anti-BEPS measures’).
