This document is an excerpt from the EUR-Lex website
Document 52020XG0227(01)
Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes 2020/C 64/03
Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes 2020/C 64/03
Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes 2020/C 64/03
ST/6129/2020/INIT
IO C 64, 27.2.2020, p. 8–14
(BG, ES, CS, DA, DE, ET, EL, EN, FR, HR, IT, LV, LT, HU, MT, NL, PL, PT, RO, SK, SL, FI, SV)
27.2.2020 |
EN |
Official Journal of the European Union |
C 64/8 |
Council conclusions on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
(2020/C 64/03)
RECALLING:
— |
the Council conclusions of 25 May 2016 on an external taxation strategy and measures against tax treaty abuse, |
— |
the Council conclusions of 8 November 2016 on the criteria for and process leading to the establishment of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, |
— |
the Council conclusions of 5 December 2017 on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, |
— |
the Council conclusions of 12 March 2019 on the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, |
— |
the Council Conclusions of 5 December 2019 on the progress achieved by the Code of Conduct (Business Taxation) Group during the Finnish Presidency, |
the Council,
1. |
WELCOMES the good cooperation on tax matters established between the EU Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation (‘Code of Conduct Group’) and most jurisdictions around the world; |
2. |
WELCOMES the fact that most of the relevant jurisdictions have taken active steps towards resolving by the agreed deadline the deficiencies that the Code of Conduct Group had identified in the areas of tax transparency and fair taxation, and CONSIDERS that these jurisdictions have delivered on their commitments; |
3. |
REGRETS, nonetheless, that a number of jurisdictions have not taken sufficient steps to implement their commitments by the agreed deadline, nor engaged in a meaningful dialogue that could lead to such commitments; |
4. |
ENDORSES accordingly the revised EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (‘EU list’) set out in Annex I; |
5. |
ENDORSES the state of play set out in Annex II with respect to commitments taken by cooperative jurisdictions to implement tax good governance principles; |
6. |
RECALLS the agreement reached by the Code of Conduct Group on coordinated defensive measures; |
7. |
RECALLS that updates of Annexes I and II will from now on be limited to maximum twice a year and FORESEES in that spirit to update the two Annexes in October 2020; |
8. |
INVITES the Code of Conduct Group, supported by the General Secretariat of the Council and with the technical assistance of the European Commission services to continue:
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9. |
CONSIDERS that the constraints presented by some jurisdictions for not fully enacting all of the measures to which they had committed, despite tangible efforts by their governments, could in some cases be viewed as justified and AGREES that the deadline for meeting the commitment should be extended as set out in Annex II; |
10. |
TAKES THE VIEW that:
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11. |
REITERATES that jurisdictions concerned by criterion 2.2 are encouraged to notify planned changes to their legislative framework or related guidance to the Code of Conduct Group before their adoption and RECALLS that if such changes raise concerns, then the legislative framework or related guidance should be amended and made compliant within three months following their adoption; |
12. |
CONSIDERS that the Code of Conduct Group should seek convergence of its timelines for assessments and for grandfathering under criterion 2.1 with the current practice of the FHTP and to take into account possible delays in the FHTP process up to a maximum of one additional year, or as far as this does not lead to a too long extension, to be looked at on a case-by-case basis; |
13. |
INVITES the Code of Conduct Group to continue:
with a view to reaching a decision on the occasion of the next update of Annexes I and II; |
14. |
INVITES the Code of Conduct Group to review in 2020 the approach used for selecting jurisdictions in the geographical scope of the EU listing exercise, in order to focus on the most relevant jurisdictions, having regard to the agreed work on the extended geographical scope as identified in 2018; |
15. |
ASKS the Code of Conduct Group to work on strengthening the EU tax good governance principles by updating them as necessary, including by working on future criterion 1.4 (exchange of beneficial ownership information) and by taking into account developments at international level; |
16. |
INVITES the EU institutions and Member States, as appropriate, to continue taking the revised EU list set out in Annex I into account in foreign policy, economic relations and development cooperation with the relevant third countries, without prejudice to the respective spheres of competence of the Member States and of the Union as resulting from the Treaties. |
ANNEX I
The EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes
1. American Samoa
American Samoa does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, did not commit to apply the BEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues.
2. Cayman Islands
Cayman Islands does not have appropriate measures in place relating to economic substance in the area of collective investment vehicles.
3. Fiji
Fiji is not a member of the Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes (‘Global Forum’), has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, has harmful preferential tax regimes, has not become a member of the Inclusive Framework on BEPS or implemented OECD anti-BEPS minimum standard, and has not resolved these issues yet.
4. Guam
Guam does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, did not commit to apply the BEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues.
5. Oman
Oman does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, and has not resolved these issues yet.
6. Palau
Palau does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, and has not resolved these issues yet.
7. Panama
Panama does not have a rating of at least ‘Largely Compliant’ by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for Exchange of Information on Request and has not resolved this issue yet.
8. Samoa
Samoa has a harmful preferential tax regime and has not committed to addressing this issue.
Furthermore, Samoa committed to comply with criterion 3.1 by the end of 2018 but has not resolved this issue yet.
9. Seychelles
Seychelles has harmful preferential tax regimes and has not resolved these issues yet.
10. Trinidad and Tobago
Trinidad and Tobago does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has a ‘Non-Compliant’ rating by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for Exchange of Information on Request, has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, has harmful preferential tax regimes, and has not resolved these issues yet.
11. US Virgin Islands
US Virgin Islands does not apply any automatic exchange of financial information, has not signed and ratified, including through the jurisdiction they are dependent on, the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance as amended, has harmful preferential tax regimes, did not commit to apply the BEPS minimum standards and did not commit to addressing these issues.
12. Vanuatu
Vanuatu does not have a rating of at least ‘Largely Compliant’ by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for Exchange of Information on Request, facilitates offshore structures and arrangements aimed at attracting profits without real economic substance and has not resolved these issues yet.
ANNEX II
State of play of the cooperation with the EU with respect to commitments taken by cooperative jurisdictions to implement tax good governance principles
1. Transparency
1.1. Commitment to implement the automatic exchange of information, either by signing the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement or through bilateral agreements
The following jurisdiction, which is expected to make tangible progress in the effective implementation of the automatic exchange of information with all EU Member States, was granted until 31 December 2020 to do so:
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Turkey |
1.2. Membership of the Global Forum on transparency and exchange of information for tax purposes (‘Global Forum’) and satisfactory rating in relation to exchange of information on request
The following jurisdictions, which committed to have a sufficient rating by the end of 2018, are waiting for a supplementary review by the Global Forum:
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Anguilla, Turkey |
The following developing country without a financial centre, which committed to have a sufficient rating by the end of 2019, is waiting for a supplementary review by the Global Forum:
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Botswana |
1.3. Signatory and ratification of the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance (MAC) or network of agreements covering all EU Member States
The following developing countries without a financial centre, which have made meaningful progress in the delivery of their commitments, were granted until 31 August 2020 to sign the MAC and until 30 August 2021 to ratify the MAC:
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Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Eswatini, Jordan, Maldives, Mongolia, Namibia, Thailand |
2. Fair Taxation
2.1. Existence of harmful tax regimes
The following jurisdiction, which committed to amend or abolish its foreign source income exemption regime by the end of 2019, has adopted sufficient amendments in line with its commitments and has committed to address a remaining issue by 31 August 2020:
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Saint Lucia |
The following jurisdictions, which committed to amend or abolish their harmful tax regimes by end 2019 but were prevented from doing so due to a delayed process in the OECD Forum on Harmful Tax Practices, were granted until the end of 2020 to adapt their legislation:
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Australia, Morocco |
The following jurisdiction, which committed to amend or abolish its harmful tax regimes covering manufacturing activities and similar non-highly mobile activities by the end of 2019 and demonstrated tangible progress in initiating these reforms in 2019, was granted until 31 August 2020 to adapt its legislation:
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Namibia |
The following jurisdiction is committed to amend or abolish harmful tax regimes by the end of 2020:
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Jordan |