ECOFIN PUBLISHES EU LIST OF THIRD COUNTRY NON-COOPERATIVE JURISDICTIONS IN TAX MATTERS (‘BLACKLIST’) – COURTESY PWC

On 5 December 2017, the ECOFIN Council published its conclusions on the EU common list of (third country) non-cooperative jurisdictions in tax matters, also referred to as the ‘blacklist’. This initiative forms part of the EU’s broader agenda on furthering tax transparency, fair taxation and the implementation of anti-BEPS measures with the dual aim of raising the level of good global governance and tackling tax fraud, evasion and avoidance.

The ‘blacklist’ was compiled through a three step process of i) Pre-Selection, ii) Screening, iii) Listing,  the result of which is that:
• 47 jurisdictions engaged in a dialogue with the EU and made a political commitment to timely address the EU’s concerns and as a result have been determined as co-operative jurisdictions subject to the successful delivery of their commitments;
• 17 jurisdictions failed to make a political commitment to timely address the EU’s concerns and as a result were included in the ‘blacklist’;
• 8 jurisdictions in the Caribbean region had their process put on hold until early 2018 due to the devastating storms in September 2017.

You may find the 72 above jurisdictions at the end of this email, for your ease of reference.

As regards the 17 ‘blacklisted’ jurisdictions, ECOFIN have agreed that EU Member States may pursue defensive measures in order to encourage these jurisdictions to address the EU’s concerns. Such defensive measures may be in the non-tax area (e.g. in relation to the European Fund for Sustainable Development) but also in the tax area (e.g. increased audits, disallowance of costs, withholding tax, application of CFC rules, reversal of the burden of proof, limitation of participation exemptions and switch-over clauses among others).

For more information, please find attached a relevant Newsalert prepared by PwC’s EU Direct Tax Group.

For further information click to read the full PWC newsletter  PwC EUDTG Newsalert – 6 December 2017 (ECOFIN Council publishes EU list of third country non-cooperative jurisdictions in tax matters).002

The EU list of the 17 non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes:

The EU list of the 47 co-operative jurisdictions for tax purposes, subject to the successful delivery of their commitments:

The EU list of the 8 jurisdictions in the Caribbean region for which their process was put on hold: