After Brexit, EU places Britain’s Cayman Islands on tax blacklist

EU Finance Ministers, on Tuesday placed the Cayman Islands, a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, on the bloc’s tax haven blacklist, less than a month after Britain left the EU, losing its seat at the table.

The ministers also added Panama, Seychelles and the Pacific Sea archipelago of Palau to the eight tax jurisdictions already singled out for failing to cooperate with EU efforts to make companies and individuals pay their dues.

The four jurisdictions blacklisted on Tuesday had previously committed to tax reforms, but had failed to implement them by the deadline agreed with Brussels.

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Panama, in particular, has come under close scrutiny following the massive Panama Papers data leak in 2016 on the use of legal loopholes for firms and individuals to avoid paying taxes.

The EU’s blacklist system was set up in 2017 as part of a broader crackdown on tax avoidance following a series of such revelations, with a view to promoting good tax practices globally.

However, it does not include EU member states, several of which had themselves been accused of unfair tax practices.

The other eight jurisdictions on the blacklist include American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.

Blacklisted countries face EU funding restrictions, among other things.

The EU also has a grey list of jurisdictions that have committed to reform their tax systems. Sixteen jurisdictions were removed from this list on Tuesday, after implementing the necessary measures.

(dpa/NAN)