EU Adds 9 Jurisdictions to Tax Haven Blacklist

On March 12, 2019, the EU finance ministers updated the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.  The list now has 15 countries and is part of the EU’s fair taxation initiative. The Commission explained that it assessed 92 countries based on three criteria:  tax transparency, good governance and real economic activity, and the existence of a zero corporate tax rate.   As a result of the assessment and pressure to avoid the blacklist, 60 countries acted and eliminated over 100 harmful regimes. The ministers blacklisted 15 countries.  5 have taken no commitments since the first blacklist adopted in 2017:  American Samoa, Guam, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.  3 others were on the 2017 list, but were moved into the grey list following commitments they had taken. However, they have been blacklisted again for not following up:  Barbados, the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands.