By Linda Straker
The European Union on Wednesday named Grenada as one of 30 countries that is not doing enough to crack down on tax avoidance, and has placed the country on its blacklist of tax havens, after at least 10 EU countries said that they were having problems getting information.
“These tax havens cover the five continents,” said Pierre Moscovici, the EU’s top tax official. He added said the publication of the blacklist was a “decisive step” that would “push non-cooperative non-EU jurisdictions to be more cooperative and adopt international standards.”
The EU blacklist is made up of countries that figure on at least ten national lists of tax havens, compiled by the 28 member nations. Half the countries named are from the Caribbean region.
The full list is:
- Anguilla
- Antigua and Barbuda
- Bahamas
- Barbados
- Belize
- Bermuda
- British Virgin Islands
- Cayman Islands
- Grenada
- Montserrat
- Panama
- Saint Vincent and the Grenadines
- Saint Christopher and Nevis
- Turks and Caicos Islands
- US Virgin Islands
- Andorra
- Guernsey
- Liechtenstein
- Monaco
- Liberia
- Mauritius
- Seychelles
- Brunei
- Hong Kong
- Maldives
- Cook Islands
- Nauru
- Niue
- Marshall Islands
- Vanuatu
Grenada is on the tax haven list, despite having signed tax information exchange agreements (TIEAs) with many EU countries.
A release from the EU said that each country on the blacklist had been suggested by at least 10 EU member states as problematic. The UK did not make any suggestions, nor did Germany. Brussels hopes that the list will help member states put pressure on commonly recognised pariah jurisdictions.
The register was announced alongside more substantive plans for reforming the way in which multinationals are taxed across the EU, a framework proposal known as the common consolidated corporate tax base. The CCCTB measure will look to harmonise corporate income tax rules among member states in a further effort to combat aggressive tax avoidance.