At its meeting in Luxembourg, the European Union Council of Finance Ministers (Ecofin) found that the countries and territories on the list were not cooperating on tax matters, and asked them to cooperate with the group dealing with the EU Code of Conduct in order to resolve the problematic issues.
The European Union removed the British Virgin Islands from the list because the territory changed its framework for exchanging information. Costa Rica was removed from the list because it modified harmful aspects of the foreign-source income exemption regime. The Marshall Islands were removed from the list by the Council because they had made significant progress in implementing economic content requirements.
On the EU list are Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, American Samoa, Bahamas, Belize, US Virgin Islands, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, Trinidad and Tobago, in addition to Vanuatu.
The revised EU list of tax non-cooperative countries and territories includes countries and territories that either do not engage in a constructive dialogue with the EU on tax administration or have not fulfilled their commitments to implement the necessary reforms. These reforms should aim to have countries and territories meet objective standards for good tax administration, which include tax transparency, fair taxation, and the implementation of international standards aimed at preventing erosion of the tax base and profit shifting.
In addition to the list of tax-uncooperative countries and territories, the Council also approved the document on the current situation, which reflects the ongoing cooperation between the European Union and its international partners, as well as the commitments of these countries. Countries and territories must adhere to accepted standards of good tax administration and reform their legislation. The European Union deleted four countries and territories from the document reviewing the current situation. Jordan and Qatar have fulfilled their obligations by amending their harmful tax provisions. They said that Montserrat and Thailand had fulfilled all their outstanding obligations regarding reporting of taxes paid in their individual countries.
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