Council of the EU removes jurisdictions from the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

On 20 February 2024, EU Member States agreed to update the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (‘Annex I’) by removing four jurisdictions: the Bahamas, Belize, Seychelles and Turks and Caicos Islands; for the following reasons:

• The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands effectively addressed shortcomings in the enforcement of economic substance requirements.
• In anticipation of the findings of a follow-up assessment conducted by the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information, Belize and Seychelles were moved to the state of play document consisting of a list of jurisdictions that do not yet comply with all international tax standards but have committed to implementing reforms (‘Annex II’).
  

Following this update, the EU list's Annex I and Annex II currently include the following countries:

Annex I 

• American Samoa
• Anguilla
• Antigua and Barbuda
• Fiji
• Guam
• Palau
• Panama
• Russian Federation
• Samoa
• Trinidad and Tobago
• US Virgin Islands
• Vanuatu
  

Annex II

• Armenia
• Belize
• British Virgin Islands
• Costa Rica
• Curacao
• Eswatini
• Malaysia
• Seychelles
• Turkey
• Vietnam
  

The first-ever EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes was adopted by the EU Council on 5 December 2017 and is updated on a biannual basis with the aim of strengthening tax good governance mechanisms, fair taxation, global tax transparency especially in the sphere of beneficial ownership information, and the fight against tax fraud, evasion and avoidance.

The list is an outcome of extensive screening and dialogue processes with non-EU jurisdictions. A number of jurisdictions have taken concrete measures since 2017 and are expected to maintain such commitments on an ongoing basis.

The Council of the EU’s official press release may be accessed here.