The European Union is anticipated so as to add Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Israel and Russia to a so-called grey-list of tax-havens, based on a draft model seen Wednesday (9 February) by EUobserver.
The grey-list, which is to develop from 15 to 25 jurisdictions, is to be adopted by EU ministers on 24 February, the EU Council mentioned.
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The British Virgin Islands: the British protectorate was on the coronary heart of the Panama Papers revelations (Picture: JaguarJulie)
International locations included within the listing are judged by the EU to not have met guarantees on tax reform. Inclusion can also symbolize a public relations headache for these listed.
The grey-list is revealed alongside a so-called blacklist of the worst-offenders that face EU sanctions. However the blacklist is anticipated to remain unchanged this month.
Tax-reform campaigners cautiously applauded the information.
“If the [new] grey-listing … is confirmed, we’ll see some actual tax-havens lastly in danger to be blacklisted [in future],” Chiara Putaturo of Oxfam advised EUobserver.
She mentioned the inclusion of 10 extra nations on the grey-list was resulting from a modification of the EU standards.
“Nonetheless, there are nonetheless different tax havens which can be left off the hook … such because the Cayman Islands, as a result of the standards stay weak,” she mentioned.
There have been 676 BVI-registered offshore firms in Pandora Papers final 12 months – the newest in a line of leaks revealing the dimensions of worldwide tax evasion.
The second highest quantity – 102 – was in Panama, a rustic that’s already on the EU blacklist.
