With the objective of combating fraud and tax evasion, the ministers of economy and finance of the EU (Ecofin) have reached an agreement that sets criteria to determine which countries are part of the European list of havens prosecutors, who expect to have finalized by the end of 2017. "There is a push for global transparency and clarity of tax regimes. We need to establish, between the authorities of the countries, exchange of information and effective time. I'm happy to announce that we have agreed on an important aim for this to happen. In particular, the criteria and the process for establishing a European list of non-cooperative jurisdictions in tax matters " said Slovenian Finance Minister and acting President of the Ecofin Peter Kazimir during the meeting on 8 November.
Thus, the twenty-eight members have established criteria for European jurisdictions considered tax havens in third countries not cooperating with the EU on taxation. However, it also agreed what the process for selecting jurisdictions and examine the guidelines in this evaluation.
As noted in the first agreement, the criteria that shall determine whether a jurisdiction is considered a tax haven will be based on:
In addition, as pointed ministers, it will also consider other aspects such as collaboration jurisdiction to exchange tax information administrative or with other countries. The Ecofin, which will work throughout 2017 in this line, plans to create a preliminary list of jurisdictions to evaluate.
During the meeting, the ministers of economy and finance of the European Union were also discussed on the creation of a common tax base for corporate tax. In this regard, the members were willing to establish by 2019 a regulation that establishes the calculation of taxable income.
Sources: EFE and Europa Press