blacklisted AGAIN

FAILURE to follow through with commitments taken has landed Barbados on a list of countries blacklisted by the European Union (EU).

The EU reported that Barbados, United Arab Emirates and Marshall Islands which were on a 2017 list and then moved to a grey list after promising to comply with regulations, have been blacklisted “again for not having followed up”.

A further seven countries were also moved from the grey list to the blacklist for similar reasons of not complying. The seven are: Aruba, Belize, Bermuda, Fiji, Oman, Vanuatu and Dominica.

Overall a total of 15 countries were blacklisted with five of them – American Samoa, Guam, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and US Virgin Islands – taking no commitments since the 2017 blacklistings.

The 28-nation EU set up the blacklist in December 2017 after revelations of widespread tax avoidance schemes used by corporations and wealthy individuals to lower their tax bills.

The EU said that blacklisted states face reputational damages and stricter controls on transactions with the EU, although no sanctions have yet been agreed by EU states.
“Jurisdictions are blacklisted if they have shortfalls in their tax rules that could favour tax evasion in other states. Those who commit to change the rules by a set deadline are removed from the list,” the EU explained.

Bermuda’s Premier David Burt said in a statement that the island was compliant with EU standards and feared no damage to its reputation.

Most of the so-called non-cooperative jurisdictions on tax matters are small Caribbean and Pacific islands, which rely on tourism and off-shore arrangements that supporters consider crucial for global finance.

They were given about a year to change tax rules, but have so far not done so, EU officials said.

EU tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the listing process was a great success because it has pushed dozens of countries to abolish “harmful tax regimes”.
The decision came despite opposition by some EU states to some listings.

Decisions on tax matters require the backing of all the 28 EU states.

Foreign pressure pushed EU governments to block last week another blacklist of countries that show deficiencies in countering money laundering and terrorism financing after heavy lobbying from Saudi Arabia, the United States and Panama.

EU documents seen by Reuters show that Italy and Estonia objected to the new tax haven list, as they opposed the inclusion of the United Arab Emirates.

The Netherlands also declined to use their veto over Aruba.

The EU blacklist originally comprised 17 jurisdictions, including the UAE, but shrank to five after most listed states committed to change their tax rules.

Barbados Advocate

Mailing Address:
Advocate Publishers (2000) Inc
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Phone: (246) 467-2000
Fax: (246) 434-2020 / (246) 434-1000