Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes

Summary:

Set of conclusions adopted during a meeting of the Council of the European Union on 14 February 2023, concerning a revision of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

Further information:

The EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes was established in December 2017. It is part of the European Union's external strategy on taxation and aims to contribute to ongoing efforts to promote tax good governance worldwide.

In this instance, the Council decided to add the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. For the Marshall Islands, there were concerns that this jurisdiction - which has a zero or only nominal rate of corporate income tax - was attracting profits without real economic activity. British Virgin Islands were listed because they were found not to be sufficiently in compliance with the OECD standard on exchange of information on request. Costa Rica was included because it did not fulfill its commitment to abolish or amend the harmful aspects of its foreign source income exemption regime.

Russia was listed after the Code of Conduct Group screened national legislation adopted in 2022 against the good tax governance criteria of the code. It found that Russia had not fulfilled its commitment to address the harmful aspects of a special regime for international holding companies. In addition, dialogue with Russia on matters related to taxation came to a standstill following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Council also approved the usual state of play document (Annex II), reflecting the ongoing EU cooperation with international partners and the commitments of countries to reform their legislation to adhere to agreed tax governance standards.

The conclusions were adopted at a meeting of the Council of the European Union on 14 February 2023. They were published in the Official Journal on 21 February 2023.

Official

General Secretariat of the Council: Policies: EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-list-of-non-cooperative-jurisdictions/

Council of the European Union: Press Release, 14/02/2023: Taxation: British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia added to EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes https://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2023/02/14/taxation-british-virgin-islands-costa-rica-marshall-islands-and-russia-added-to-eu-list-of-non-cooperative-jurisdictions-for-tax-purposes/

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News

Politico, 14/02/2023: EU blacklists Russia, British Virgin Islands as tax havens https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-british-virgin-islands-primed-for-eu-tax-haven-blacklist/

The Brussels Times, 14/02/2023: 'Non-cooperative jurisdiction': EU adds Russia to tax havens list https://www.brusselstimes.com/eu-affairs/371185/eu-adds-russia-to-its-list-of-known-tax-havens

Euronews, 14/02/2023: The European Union adds Russia to its blacklist of tax havens https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/02/14/the-european-union-adds-russia-to-its-blacklist-of-tax-havens

EUObserver, 14/02/2023: Russia added to EU tax-haven blacklist, Qatar gets more time https://euobserver.com/world/156715

Bloomberg, 14/02/2023: EU Adds Russia to Blacklist of Uncooperative Tax Regimes https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-02-14/eu-adds-russia-to-blacklist-of-uncooperative-tax-regimes

The Moscow Times, 14/02/2023: EU Adds Russia to Its Tax Haven Blacklist https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/14/eu-adds-russia-to-its-tax-haven-blacklist-a80224

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Commentary and Analysis

Oxfam International: Press Release, 14/02/2023: EU keeps joke tax havens list for the super-rich and profitable https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/eu-keeps-joke-tax-havens-list-super-rich-and-profitable

Ernst&Young (EY): Tax Alerts, 15/02/2023: ECOFIN adopts revised list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes https://www.ey.com/en_gl/tax-alerts/ecofin-adopts-revised-list-of-non-cooperative-jurisdictions-for-0

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