From Eurodad Blog -  Following the G20 communiqué yesterday, the OECD has issued a new list of tax havens. The list consists of four main categories:

1.  Jurisdictions that have substantially implemented the internationally agreed tax standard.
2.  Tax havens that have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard but have not yet substantially implemented it.
3.  Other financial centres that have committed to the internationally agreed tax standard but have not yet substantially implemented it.
4.  Jurisdictions that have not committed to implement the internationally agreed tax standard.

When looking at this list one will surprisingly find quite substantive differences as compared with previous lists. Apparently, the announcements and commitments we witnessed in the last few weeks from a series of prominent long date tax havens have successfully “promoted” them from a black towards a kind of grey or even white list.

The white list: Guernsey, Isle of Man and Jersey are now in the most respectable list, together with countries like France, Germany or Sweden. We also find in this list other EU countries such as Ireland, Malta, Cyprus or the Netherlands. We find 40 countries in this list, most of them OECD and G20 members.

Among the 30 members of the grey list (under good progress) we now find some of the most traditionally recalcitrant tax havens: Andorra, Monaco, Liechtenstein, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Bermuda. Most of these countries have not signed any agreement yet but have committed to do so. We can expect that in a few months time, after implementation of some of the announced bilateral agreements, many of them will fly up to the first list.

Under the category “other financial centres” we now find: Austria, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Singapore among others. Surprisingly, the city of London, considered by many as the biggest tax haven in the world, and other prominent financial centres like Hong Kong and Macao do not appear under any category of the list!

Finally, the baddies of the list are now four Southern countries: Costa Rica, Malaysia, Philippines and Uruguay. Of course either of them was in London yesterday to negotiate a ticket to the grey or white list…

It seems that we are coming back to the times where the strongest, biggest financial centres and tax havens are legitimised while smaller countries and territories, mostly in the South, are stigmatised.

Find the list here (OECD - pdf format)

Blog de Eurodad

See Choike’s coverage of the G20 Summit

Glossary:

Tax haven: A place where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all. Individuals and/or firms can find it attractive to move themselves to areas with lower tax rates. This creates a situation of tax competition among governments. Different jurisdictions tend to be havens for different types of taxes, and for different categories of people and/or companies.

OECD: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation of 30 countries. Most OECD members are high-income economies and are regarded as developed countries. The OECD maintains a ‘blacklist’ of countries it considers uncooperative in the drive for transparency of tax affairs and the effective exchange of information, officially called “The List of Uncooperative Tax Havens. However, many countries have criticized the criteria on the basis of which the list is drawn up.

Bank secrecy: A legal principle under which banks are allowed to protect personal information about their customers, through the use of numbered bank accounts or otherwise.

Financial crisis, OECD, tax havens, U.N. reform