EU to compile blacklist of tax havens

BRUSSELS: European Union finance ministers will agree next week to draw up a common list of tax havens and sanctions against them, according to a draft EU document, part of a crackdown on tax evasion by companies and wealthy individuals.

The EU´s 28 member states currently have their own blacklists of tax havens, or ´non-cooperative jurisdictions´, but these differ and the countries are free to decide which restrictive measures to impose, if any.

The EU´s move to coordinate and harmonise the lists follows the Panama Papers leaks in April, which revealed details of corporate and individual tax evasion involving tax havens.

At a meeting next Wednesday, EU ministers are expected to agree to start drafting a common "blacklist" of non-cooperative jurisdictions by September and to finalise it next year.

The draft plan envisages EU countries also imposing joint sanctions against the tax havens.

"Defensive measures (sanctions) could be considered to be implemented in the tax as well as in the non-tax area," the draft conclusions for next week´s meeting said, without elaborating.

EU finance ministers had said in April they wanted to finalise a common blacklist in September.

But the ministers cannot yet agree on how to define a tax haven and several EU countries currently do not have any jurisdictions on their national blacklists.

An EU "code of conduct group" will be charged with setting common criteria based on standards developed by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).