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TheEuropean Union tax haven blacklist, officially theEU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, is a tool of theEuropean Union (EU) that liststax havens. It is used by theMember States to tackle external risks of tax abuse and unfairtax competition. It was adopted for the first time in 2017 as a response totax avoidance in the EU, screening 92 countries.[1] It is managed by the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation and monitored by theEuropean Commission (EC).[2] The most recent revision was released on 6 October 2020. The list is updated twice a year.[3]
Jurisdictions that do not comply with all three of these EC criteria are flagged as tax havens by the EU:[2]
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The original list in 2017 contained additional countries. Of these, 25 countries have been cleared and removed from the list by March 2019: Andorra, Bahrain, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Grenada, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jamaica, Jersey, Korea, Liechtenstein, Macao SAR, Malaysia, Montserrat, New Caledonia, Panama, Peru, Qatar, San Marino, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turks and Caicos, and Uruguay. An additional 34 countries that have committed to compliance by the end of 2019, and form a "grey list": Albania, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Australia, Bahamas, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, British Virgin Islands, Cabo Verde, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Eswatini, Jordan, Maldives, Mauritius, Morocco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Namibia, North Macedonia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Serbia, Seychelles, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, and Vietnam.[2]
A number of countries have not yet been screened: In 2019 Russia, Mexico and Argentina are scheduled to be screened. Other countries are planned to be brought into the scope from 2020 onwards.[2]
On 27 March 2019, theEuropean Parliament voted by 505 in favour to 63 against of accepting a new report that likenedLuxembourg,Malta,Ireland and theNetherlands, andCyprus to "display[ing] traits of a tax haven and facilitate aggressive tax planning".[4][5] However, despite this vote, the EU Commission is not obliged to include these EU jurisdictions on the blacklist.[6]
On 17 October 2023, the European Union addedAntigua and Barbuda,Belize and theSeychelles to its blacklist of tax havens. At the same time, they removed theBritish Virgin Islands,Costa Rica and theMarshall Islands from the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.[7]
Following this latest revision in October 2023, the EU blacklist includes the following sixteen jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Belize, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Seychelles, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, Vanuatu.[8]In the February 2023 update, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia were added and North Macedonia, Barbados, Jamaica and Uruguay were removed.[9]In the 2021 update, Dominica was added to the blacklist and Barbados was moved to the grey list, pending a supplementary review by the Global Forum.[10][3]
| Non-cooperative jurisdictions | Type of jurisdiction | Reasons for blacklisting | |
|---|---|---|---|
 American Samoa | Unincorporated and unorganized U.S. territory | American Samoa does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, theOECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, did not commit to apply theBEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues. | |
 Anguilla | AutonomousBritish Overseas Territory | This is due to the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the international standards for the exchange of information on request) downgrading the ratings of this jurisdiction to “non-compliant” | |
 Antigua and Barbuda | Country | ||
 Bahamas | Island country | ||
 Belize | Country | ||
 Fiji | Country | Fiji is not a member of theGlobal Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes ("Global Forum"), has not signed and ratified theOECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, has harmful preferential tax regimes, has not become a member of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS or implemented OECD anti-BEPS minimum standard, and has not resolved these issues yet. | |
 Guam | Unincorporated and organized U.S. territory | Guam does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, did not commit to apply theBEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues. | |
 Palau | Country | Palau does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, and has not resolved these issues yet. | |
 Panama | Country | Panama does not have a rating of at least “Largely Compliant” by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for Exchange of Information on Request and has not resolved this issue yet. | |
 Russia | Country | Code of conduct group screened Russia’s new legislation adopted in 2022 against the good tax governance criteria of the code and found that Russia had not fulfilled its commitment to address the harmful aspects of a special regime for international holding companies (criterion 2.1). In addition, dialogue with Russia on matters related to taxation came to a standstill following the Russian aggression against Ukraine. | |
 Samoa | Country | Samoa has a harmful preferential tax regime and did not commit to addressing this issue. Furthermore, Samoa committed to comply with criterion 3.1 by the end of 2018 but has not resolved this issue yet. | |
 Seychelles | Country | ||
 Trinidad and Tobago | Island country | ||
 Turks and Caicos Islands | AutonomousBritish Overseas Territory | ||
 U.S. Virgin Islands | Unincorporated and organized U.S. territory | US Virgin Islands does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, theOECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, has harmful preferential tax regimes, did not commit to apply theBEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues. | |
 Vanuatu | Country | Vanuatu does not have a rating of at least “Largely Compliant” by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for Exchange of Information on Request, facilitatesoffshore structures and arrangements aimed at attracting profits without real economic substance and has not resolved these issues yet. |
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On 16 December 2019, the EU Code of Conduct Group (Business Taxation) (CCG), under theEconomic and Financial Affairs Council, published a new guidance[11] on sanctions to be applied by EUMember States against blacklisted 'non-cooperative' jurisdictions by the end of 2020. These sanctions were immediately backed[12] by theFinnish Presidency of theCouncil of the European Union called such sanctions as "defensive-measures" that are recommended to EU Member States to take against blacklisted jurisdictions.[13]
These defensive-measures entail:[14]
Member States are requested to apply at least one of these measures from 1 January 2021 at the latest. Furthermore, Member States are entitled to apply their own additional measures or to maintain their own lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions at the national level.
By the end of 2021, an overview of sanctions applied by Member States will take place, and as of 2022, the CCG will assess the need for further coordination of defensive measures.
Ireland has been likened to a tax haven in a new report which was overwhelmingly accepted by the European Parliament.
Members of the European Parliament have voted to include the Netherlands, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and Cyprus on the official EU tax haven blacklist.