Oxfam has warned that the EU grey list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes should not be treated as a way of letting tax havens “off the hook”, as those named try to get to grips with the implications of their inclusion.
The EU has blacklisted 17 jurisdictions, including South Korea and the United Arab Emirates, and put 47 others on notice including Jersey and the Cayman Islands, but it has not said what sanctions or penalties those shamed will face.
The European Council published its blacklist of 17 non-cooperative jurisdictions on Tuesday, including the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.
To stop its blacklist being whitewashed, the European Union should include Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands on its list of tax havens when it is published on 5 December, Oxfam has warned.
Island jurisdictions including Bermuda, Jersey, Guernsey and Cayman have been making last ditch efforts to avoid being blacklisted by the EU.
A ‘substance’ test that determines whether actual business activities of offshore structures take place in a jurisdiction could be the make or break factor for 53 countries facing the prospect of being added to an EU-wide tax haven blacklist.
A European Union blacklist of tax havens will move a step closer to reality on Tuesday when the member states’ finance ministers meet to discuss plans to tackle offshore tax avoidance.
The European Commission is understood to be looking at four kinds of sanctions targeted at jurisdictions on its planned tax haven blacklist which is due to be finalised at the end of this year.
The European Union has written to more than 90 countries warning them that they are being “screened” and may appear in a planned “blacklist” of tax havens.
The Portuguese government has introduced a wealth tax on properties valued over €600,000 (£538,572, $660,108) in a move that could benefit thousands of British expats living in the EU-member state.
Jurisdictions that offer zero rates of corporation tax, such as Jersey and Guernsey, may not automatically be considered tax havens, EU finance ministers have said.
The UK government is fighting to keep Guernsey, Jersey and other British overseas territories off the EU’s planned blacklist of offshore tax havens.
