On Tuesday 6 February, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development announced that jurisdictions were continuing to make progress in implementing the international standard to combat harmful tax practices. It had examined 322 preferential tax regimes and found that over 40% of them had been or were in the process of being abolished.
In particular, it noted that two tax regimes were no longer harmful, as they had been drawn up in accordance with OECD standards. These are the preferential tax rate for family offices in Hong Kong and the free-trade zones in the United Arab Emirates. Two preferential tax regimes have also been abolished: support for industry in Albania and the IT project regime in Armenia.
These four jurisdictions are currently on the EU's ‘grey’ list of third countries and jurisdictions committed to good tax governance (see EUROPE 13273/15). As is the case every six months (see EUROPE 13304/23), this list and the EU’s ‘blacklist’ of uncooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes will be updated during the General Affairs Council meeting on Tuesday 20 February. Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates, Albania and Armenia could then be removed from the ‘grey’ list.
Read the OECD’s conclusions: https://aeur.eu/f/aqm (Original version in French by Anne Damiani)