Update of the EU blacklist of tax havens

Company activities in countries on the EU List can affect a company's reputation and may give rise to questions from contractual parties, investors, and business partners, and transactions with companies in countries on the EU List may be subject to reporting obligations (under e.g., DAC6) and preventive tax measures, such as limiting the deductibility of interest and application of withholding tax.

Countries are often included on the EU List because they have not engaged in constructive dialogue with the EU on designing better tax policies or because they have failed to implement tax reforms that they had otherwise committed to.

On the day of the update, the Council removed Bahamas, Belize, Seychelles and Turks and Caicos Islands from the List. Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Islands were removed from the List following the OECD Forum of Harmful Tax Practices' recommendations to the countries, regarding remedying deficiencies in their enforcement of economic substance requirements, being converted from “hard” to “soft”. Belize and Seychelles were removed following them being granted a supplementary review after having changed its rules on exchange of information on request.

The EU List is updated twice a year (next time in October 2024). The press release from the EU Council is available in the link here.

We are available for any questions about activities in countries that are on the EU's list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions.