The European Union has updated the "grey list" of tax jurisdictions, adding Russia, Costa Rica, the British Virgin Islands and the Marshall Islands to it.
This was reported by the press service of the Council of the European Union.
Now the list of jurisdictions with which the EU will not cooperate includes 16 countries, mostly offshore:
- American Samoa;
- Anguilla;
- Bahamas;
- British Virgin Islands;
- Costa Rica;
- Fiji;
- Guam;
- Marshall Islands;
- Palau;
- Panama;
- Russia;
- Samoa;
- Trinidad and Tobago;
- Turks and Caicos Islands;
- The U.S. Virgin Islands;
- Vanuatu
The European Union offers these countries to improve their legal framework to solve the identified problems. Russia was added to the list after a review of the new legislation adopted in the Russian Federation during 2022, as it does not meet the criteria for proper tax administration. The audit found that Russia "failed to fulfill its obligations to eliminate the harmful aspects of the special regime for international holding companies."
Dialogue with the Russian Federation on taxation reached a dead end after its invasion of Ukraine, the EU indicates.
At the same time, North Macedonia, Barbados, Jamaica and Uruguay, which successfully fulfilled their obligations, were removed from the "gray list" of tax jurisdictions.
The "grey list" was compiled for the first time in December 2017. Its next review is scheduled for October 2023.