EU Issues List of Non-Cooperative Jurisdictions for Tax Purposes

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Friday, December 15, 2017
Author: 
Bruce Zagaris
Volume: 
33
Issue: 
12
Abstract: 

On December 5, 2017, the European Council issued its conclusions on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.  The conclusions also set forth the criteria and proposed sanctions for the countries blacklisted.

The reasons the EU has developed its program and list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes is to combat tax evasion and avoidance and enable the EU to more robustly combat external threats to EU Members’ tax bases and third countries that “consistently refuse to play fair on tax matters.”  Until now, EU Members have had a patchwork approach to dealing with tax havens, which has had limited impact.  The Commission in its External Strategy for Effective Taxation suggested that a common EU list could be a more effective means of dealing with countries that encourage abusive tax practices.