OECD: Citizenship by investment as a means of tax evasion

On 16^th October, 2018, the Organization for economic cooperation and development published a list of countries (21 States) that, as members of the Multilateral Convention on the automatic exchange of financial information for tax purposes, provide foreign citizens with the opportunity to obtain citizenship or residence permit for investment.

Schemes for granting a residence permit or citizenship for investment provide an opportunity to obtain a lower rate of tax on income of individuals received from foreign companies, and do not require permanent residence in the country.

Financial institutions are required to take into account the results of the OECD analysis when conducting due diligence of their clients in the framework of automatic exchange.

The list includes the following jurisdictions: Malta, Cyprus, Monaco, Montserrat, Panama, Qatar, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Colombia, Dominica, Grenada, Malaysia, UAE, Mauritius, Vanuatu.

On materials of the following website: https://www.oecd.org/tax/automatic-exchange/crs-implementation-and-assistance/residence-citizenship-by-investment/