EU put 17 countries in its tax heaven blacklist

The European Union made the first blacklist of tax heavens and put 17 countries in it.

The countries in the list are: American Samoa, Bahrain, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, Macau, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, South Korea, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates.

Моreover, 47 countries were also placed in a «grey list» which are also deemed non-compliant, but have committed to changing their tax rules.

The creation of the lists was followed by the recent leaking of the Panama Papers and the Paradise Papers.

For the purpose of determining a "non-cooperative jurisdiction" the EU counts the transparency of its tax regime and tax rates. It also verify whether the tax system encourages multinationals to unfairly shift profits to low tax regimes, avoiding higher duties in other states.

The Commission of the EU will continue to examine and control all jurisdictions closely in order to ensure that their commitments are fulfilled and to determine whether any other countries should be listed in the future.

Source: http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-17-5121_en.htm