EU: Council reviews list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions

19 February, 2025

The European Economic and Financial Affairs Council, in a meeting on 18 February 2025, confirmed the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes without changes.

During the meeting, the Council reviewed the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I), noting no changes. Updates were made to the state of playlist (Annex II), which includes jurisdictions committed to reforms to avoid being listed as non-cooperative.

Although this round of updates features positive developments, the Council regrets that these jurisdictions are not yet fully cooperative on tax matters and invites them to improve their legal framework to resolve the identified issues.

The list consists of the same 11 jurisdictions as before:

American Samoa
Anguilla
Fiji
Guam
Palau
Panama
Russia
Samoa
Trinidad and Tobago
the US Virgin Islands
Vanuatu

The countries listed are within the scope of the EU screening process.

Although this round of the update features positive developments, the Council regrets that these jurisdictions are not yet fully cooperative on tax matters and invites them to improve their legal framework in order to resolve the identified issues.

State of play document (Annex II)

In addition to the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions, the Council approved the usual state of play document (Annex II), which reflects the ongoing EU cooperation with its international partners and the commitments of these countries to reform their legislation to adhere to agreed tax good governance standards.

Its purpose is to recognise ongoing constructive work in the field of taxation, and to encourage the positive approach taken by cooperative jurisdictions to implement tax good governance principles.

Two jurisdictions, Costa Rica and Curaçao, fulfilled their commitments by addressing the deficiencies in their automatic exchange of tax information systems and will be removed from the state of play document.

Brunei Darussalam, on the other hand, made a commitment to amend or abolish its foreign-source income exemption regime before the end of next year, and this commitment will be included in the state of play.

Annex II