EU Excludes Two Countries From the Blacklist

The European Union has a number of requirements for jurisdictions for the exchange of tax information, transparency of transactions, as well as compliance with the provisions of the OECD. If a state refuses to cooperate with the EU on at least one of these issues, it is included into the “gray list”, if the refusal concerns two or three items, the state falls into the blacklist.

This week, the Council of the European Union decided to exclude two jurisdictions from the blacklist - the Marshall Islands and the United Arab Emirates. The UAE has already fulfilled the requirements of the EU and prepared acts on Economic Substance, so the European Union can recommend it as a reliable jurisdiction again. The Marshall Islands has so far been put on the gray list, but this country has a chance of moving to the white list if they continue to reform.

The EU began to divide jurisdictions into reliable and unreliable ones when the list of tax havens was approved. The number of countries in the black and gray lists periodically increases or decreases. Today, non-recommended states include only Vanuatu, Oman, Guam, Samoa, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Fiji, as well as Belize.

Law&Trust offers services to companies that intend to work in countries included in the white list of the European Union. We help you choose a jurisdiction, tell you where the tax policy is more profitable for your business and register a company in the country.