March13,2019

The European Union added 10 countries to the tax haven blacklist on March 12. They are the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, Belize, Barbados, the British overseas territory of Bermuda, the Marshall Islands, Fiji, the United Arab Emirates, Dominica, Oman, and Vanuatu. They join Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, and three U.S. territories of American Samoa, Guam, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, who were on the blacklist already. The blacklist was expanded to 15 countries right now.

The tax haven blacklist was initiated by 28 EU nations due to tax evasion scandals such as LuxLeaks and Panama Papers in 2017. Those countries with deficiencies in countering money laundering and financing terrorism will be named on the blacklist, suffering reputation damages and stricter transaction controls compliant with EU tax standards.

EU tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici said the listing process was a great success because it had pushed dozens of countries to commit to change their tax rules to abolish “harmful tax regimes” with a view to removing themselves from the tax haven blacklist.