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 Netherlands and the UK facilitate global tax avoidance by acting as conduits for 37% of corporate money heading to tax havens, research by academics at the University of Amsterdam shows.
Spain will target what it considers to be Gibraltar’s “unjustifiable privileges” on tax in Brexit negotiations, a leaked government report has revealed.
Some of Malta’s tax rules may be used in structures of aggressive tax planning, a new report by the European Commission has found.
The United States will become the last global tax haven as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS) comes into force, making a repeal of Fatca very unlikely, says Nuri Katz, chief executive and founder of Apex Capital Partners.
Malta has been accused of being a tax haven after a new report found that the European Union’s smallest member state helped multinationals avoid paying €14bn (£12.1bn, $14.8bn) in taxes between 2012 and 2015.
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.
A French prosecutor has called for HSBC to stand trial for helping clients hide more than €180bn (£161.3bn, $199.8bn) in offshore tax havens from the country’s tax authorities, French news agency AFP has reported.
Isle of Man chief minister Allan Bell has questioned plans by the European Commission to create a blacklist of non-EU tax regimes, branding the move as more to do with the “internal politics of Brussels” than greater transparency.
Panama is planning to take action against those accusing it of being a tax haven, as the country continues its efforts to draw a line under the Panama Papers data leak that saw millions of documents stolen from law firm Mossack Fonseca.
The OECD’s head of tax has warned that the UK could be even more aggressive in its post-Brexit tax offering, as chancellor George Osborne announces plans for further cuts to corporation tax.
