With the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions being updated twice a year (February and October), taxpayers should be mindful of how the evolution of the list triggers the application of defensive measures imposed by EU Member States against listed jurisdictions. In particular, taxpayers should take into consideration that EU countries may refer to different (local) lists and apply different defensive measures, based on different timelines, and have other specific requirements in this context.
Against this background, KPMG’s EU Tax Centre surveyed EU jurisdictions on EU and domestic defensive measures applicable against non-cooperative jurisdictions. The information included in this article was collected with the participation of KPMG Member Firms based in the EU in July/August 2024.
Jump to: Background | Consequences of being placed on Annex I and/or Annex II | National defensive measures | Potential developments
Background
The fight against harmful tax competition and aggressive tax planning has been high on the European Union’s agenda in the past few years. Following calls from both Member States and the European Parliament, the European Commission included in their January 2016 Anti-Tax Avoidance Package a proposal for a common EU external strategy for effective taxation, which included a commitment for a common approach to third country jurisdictions on tax good governance matters The objective of this initiative was to coordinate the fight against base erosion threats from third countries, by replacing the various national tax haven or white-lists with a single EU listing system.
The outcome was the adoption on December 5, 2017, of the initial EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (the EU List – Annex I to the Council conclusions on the EU list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions). The list is the result of an in-depth screening of non-EU countries that are assessed against agreed criteria for tax good governance by the Code of Conduct Group (‘CoCG’ or ‘Group’), which is composed of high-level representatives of the Member States and the European Commission. The current screening criteria are founded upon tax transparency, fair taxation, and the implementation of OECD anti-BEPS measures. Jurisdictions that do not comply with all criteria, but that have committed to reform are included in a state of play document – the so-called “grey list” (Annex II). The EU List is an on-going project and is updated and revised in February and October of each year.
Following the latest revision on October 8, 2024, the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions includes the following eleven jurisdictions: American Samoa, Anguilla, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, the Russian Federation, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
In addition, the grey list now includes the following nine jurisdictions: Antigua and Barbuda, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Eswatini, the Seychelles, Türkiye and Vietnam.
Consequences of being placed on Annex I and/or Annex II
Mandatory Disclosure Rules (DAC6)
The EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions is relevant for the purposes of the EU Mandatory Disclosure Rules under DAC6, where recipients of cross-border payments are resident for tax purposes in a jurisdiction that is included in Annex I. Under Hallmark C1b(ii)) of DAC6, such payments may trigger a reporting obligation irrespective of whether the transaction is aimed at generating a tax benefit (i.e. the main benefit test does not apply). Note that some Member States also refer to the jurisdictions considered as “non-cooperative” within the framework of the OECD (i.e., Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes or Forum on Harmful Tax Practices). In addition, note that consensus has not formed among Member States on the point in time at which the EU list and / or OECD list should be tested (e.g. the triggering date, or the reporting date).
Groups that make payments to associated enterprises resident for tax purposes in a non-cooperative jurisdiction should carefully examine whether such arrangements are reportable under DAC6 and should refresh this assessment with every iteration of the EU list. Note that penalties for non-compliance with DAC6 apply and, for example in Poland, may be as high as PLN 25 million (approximately EUR 5.33 million) for non-fulfilment of reporting obligations and PLN 10 million (approximately EUR 2.13 million) for failures to correctly implement the required MDR internal procedures.
EU Public Country-by-Country Reporting Requirements (CbyC Reporting)
In addition, the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions has a direct impact on the EU Public CbyC Reporting obligations that generally apply in relation to financial years starting on or after June 22, 2024 (with the exception of certain early adopters, such as Romania).
Under the EU Public Country-by-Country Reporting Directive, EU-based MNEs and non-EU headquartered MNEs that operate in the EU (and that meet certain size criteria) will be required to make publicly available certain data points on a country-by-country basis for each EU Member State, as well as for:
- each jurisdiction listed on Annex I of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, and
- each jurisdiction that has been on the grey list (Annex II) for a minimum of two years.
Data for other non-EU jurisdictions is to be disclosed on an aggregate basis.
For more information on EU public CbyC Reporting, please click here.
For calendar year taxpayers with a qualifying presence in Romania¹ the early adoption could translate into a requirement to disclose country-by-country information as early as December 31, 2024 (with respect to financial year 2023), i.e. two years earlier that the deadline set by the Directive.
As a result, for financial year 2023, groups may need to report jurisdictional information for those countries that have been listed on Annex I as at March 1, 2023 (e.g., the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands, Panama, the Russian Federation, the US Virgin Islands); and Annex II as at March 1, 2023 and March 1, 2022 (e.g., Hong Kong (SAR) China, Israel, Malaysia, Qatar, the Seychelles, Thailand, Türkiye, Vietnam).
For financial year 2024 (to be disclosed by December 31, 2025), groups may need to report jurisdictional information for those countries that have been listed on Annex I as at March 1, 2024 (e.g., Panama, the Russian Federation, the US Virgin Islands) and Annex II as at March 1, 2024 and March 1, 2023 (e.g., Armenia, Malaysia, the Seychelles, Türkiye, Vietnam).
Non-EU headquartered groups that operate in Romania should carefully examine the impact of Romania’s early adoption of the rules as well as future implementing legislation in other Member States. Deviations from the standard timeline as well as the options available to Member States under the Directive bring an additional layer of complexity..
FASTER
On May 14, 2024, the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the EU (ECOFIN) reached agreement (general approach) on the proposal for a “Faster and Safer Relief of Excess Withholding Taxes (FASTER)” Directive. FASTER aims to establish two fast-track procedures complementing the existing standard refund procedure in each Member State, including:(i) a relief at source system, and (ii) a quick refund system. In-scope Member States will be required to implement one of the two systems (or a combination of both). The fast-track withholding tax procedure will be facilitated by so-called Certified Financial Intermediaries (CFIs) that will be subject to additional due diligence and common reporting requirements.
Financial intermediaries established outside the EU may apply for registration as a CFI provided that the third country of residence is neither on (i) Annex I of the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, nor (ii) on the EU list of high-risk third countries (anti-money laundering list (subject to certain additional conditions).
For more information on the FASTER Directive proposal, please click here.
National tax-related measures
On November 25, 2019, the Code of Conduct Group for Business Taxation (CoCG) published guidance on defensive measures in the tax area towards non-cooperative jurisdictions. The CoCG’s Progress Report to the Council was endorsed by the Council on December 5, 2019. Whilst the guidance is not binding, by endorsing the document, Member States committed to applying at least one of the measures. The commitment is however far from being a full harmonization measure, as EU Member States are free to choose the type and scope of measures applied against jurisdictions on the EU List, in line with the framework of their national tax systems. The list of measures from which Member States are required to choose includes:
- Non-deductibility of costs: Member States that opt for this measure should deny deduction of costs and payments that otherwise would be deductible for the taxpayer when these costs and payments are treated as directed to entities or persons in listed jurisdictions. The measure should include, for example, interest, royalties and other concessions on intellectual property, assets and service fees.
- Controlled Foreign Company (CFC) rules: Member States that opt for this measure should include in the tax base of the taxpayer the income of an entity resident or a permanent establishment situated in a listed jurisdiction. Member States could apply this measure in accordance with to the rules laid down in Articles 7 and 8 of the Anti-Tax Avoidance Directive (EU) 2016/1164.
- Withholding tax measures: Member States that opt for this measure should apply withholding tax at a higher rate for example on payments such as interest, royalties, service fee or remuneration, when these payments are treated as received in listed jurisdictions. Alternatively or in combination with this measure Member States could consider applying specific targeted withholding tax on such payments.
- Limitation of participation exemption on profit distribution: Member States, which have rules that permit excluding or deducting dividends or other profits received from foreign subsidiaries when computing the relevant corporate income tax, could deny or limit such participation exemptions if the dividends or other profits are considered as received from a listed jurisdiction.
Under the commitment, the deadline to introduce one or more such defensive measures was January 2021. Countries encountering difficulties to enact the measures due to institutional or constitutional issues triggered by the national process of implementing the rules benefited from a six-month extension.
The CoCG has undertaken a review of defensive measures applied by Member States and the latest state of play report (PDF 457 KB) (as at January 31, 2023) was published in June 2023. Given the non-binding character of the CoCG’s guidance, we see a significant degree of disparity in local implementation and approach. Against this background, the following chapter provides an analysis of how the application of tax defensive measures deviates among EU Member States.
Other (administrative) defensive measures:
In addition to the above, Member State also agreed in December 2017 to apply at least one of the following administrative measures:
Reinforced monitoring of certain transactions.
increased audit risks for taxpayers benefiting from the regimes at stake
increased audit risks for taxpayers using structures or arrangements involving these jurisdictions
Based on the review (PDF 457 KB) performed by the CoCG (as at January 31, 2023), twenty-six Member States apply at least one administrative countermeasure, i.e. reinforced monitoring of certain transactions and increased audit risk rating.
Effects outside the tax area
The EU List produces effects outside the tax area, impacting EU funding, the regulatory field, as well as potentially the foreign policy of Member States. As such, the EU itself restricts access to several EU funding instruments, if channeled through entities based in a listed jurisdiction. Member States were also invited to take the EU List into account when developing their foreign policy, as well as in their economic relations with third countries. Also, the general framework for securitization (Regulation (EU) 2021/557 refers to the EU List. Specifically, in the context of investments in third countries through Securitization Special Purpose Entities (SSPEs), SSPEs should not be established in a listed jurisdiction, while notification requirements apply in cases where an investor intends to invest through an SSPE based in a grey list jurisdiction.
National defensive measures applied across EU Member States
What tax defensive measures from the CoCG guidance are applied by EU Member States against listed non-EU jurisdictions?
The following table provides an overview of the tax defensive measures from the CoCG guidance that are applied by EU Member States.
As illustrated above, most Member States have implemented multiple measures from the CoCG’s guidance, with six countries having implemented all suggested legislative tax measures: France, Germany, Lithuania, Portugal, Slovenia and Spain.
In contrast, a suite of countries limited their reaction to only one type of measure, as follows:
Non-deductibility of costs:
Greece, Luxembourg, Romania, Sweden
CFC rules:
Austria, Czechia, Finland
Withholding tax measures:
Bulgaria, Cyprus
Participation exemption restrictions:
Malta
The list of measures applied above is far from being final and is constantly evolving. Member States continue to expand the scope of the measures or are investigating whether they should implement additional rules. A few recent local developments in relation to national tax defensive measures include:
- In Croatia, the withholding tax rate on payments to non-cooperative jurisdictions was increased from 20 percent to 25 percent with effect from January 1, 2024. For more information, please refer to E-News Issue 185.
- Hungary introduced a new measure to deny the deduction of interest and royalty payments to entities or individuals that are tax resident in a jurisdiction included on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions or that is considered to be a zero- or low-tax. The rules will be effective as of January 1, 2024 and will not apply where the taxpayer is able to prove that the transaction was performed for valid commercial reasons, reflecting economic reality. For more information, please refer to E-News Issue 187.
- As part of Finance (No.2) Act 2023, Ireland introduced withholding tax on certain payments (20 percent for payments of interest and royalties / 25 percent for distributions) made to associated entities established in jurisdictions on the EU list on non-cooperative jurisdictions or in “zero-tax” jurisdictions, subject to a range of complex exceptions. These new provisions apply to payments from April 1, 2024. However, for arrangements in place on or before October 19, 2023, the rules apply to payments of interest or royalties or the making of a distribution on or after January 1, 2025 (for more information, please refer to E-News Issue 189). In addition, Finance Bill 2024 proposes to introduce a participation exemption for certain foreign dividends received on or after January 1, 2025 from companies resident for tax purposes in the EU/EEA, or jurisdictions with which Ireland has a double taxation agreement. For more information, please refer to a report prepared by KPMG in Ireland.
- In the Netherlands, the conditional withholding tax (at a rate of 25.8 percent) on interest and royalties for payments to affiliated entities in designated jurisdictions included on the EU List and the Dutch tax haven list (low tax jurisdictions) has been supplemented with a conditional withholding tax on dividends with effect from January 1, 2024. However, this will not cumulate with the current dividend withholding tax (which will continue to apply), since dividend tax withheld will be available for credit with the conditional tax on dividends.
Which non-EU countries are impacted by the national defensive measures?
Several EU Member States apply national tax defensive measures only against those countries that are included on the EU List. This group includes: Austria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania and Sweden.
Other EU countries apply national tax defensive measures against countries that are included on the EU List, as well as against other countries considered non-cooperative / tax havens based on national listing criteria. Examples include:
- In the Netherlands, the EU List is relevant for the Dutch CFC defensive measure. In addition, the Netherlands apply a conditional withholding tax on interest, royalties and dividends to affiliated companies in designated jurisdictions included on the EU List and on the Dutch tax haven list (i.e. jurisdictions without profit taxes or with a statutory rate of less than 9 percent). The conditional withholding tax on interest, royalties and dividends also applies in tax abusive situations, i.e. if both subjective and objective tests are met (similar to the EU concept of abuse).
- Slovakia maintains a list of cooperative countries (the “white list”) that are not subject to national tax defensive measures. The white list excludes countries from the EU List, as well as jurisdictions that do not impose a corporate income tax or that apply a nil corporate income tax.
In other EU Member States different national tax defensive measures are applied depending on whether a country is included on the EU List or a national tax haven list. Different measures could also apply depending on the listing criteria based on which a country is listed. Examples include:
- Belgium denies the deduction of payments to jurisdictions on the national tax haven list where the payments are not properly reported, are not at arms-length, or are made to artificial constructions. Special conditions apply for the deduction of interest and royalty payments that are paid to countries on the national tax havens list. These limitations are not directly linked to countries mentioned on the EU List. The national tax haven list was last updated by the Royal Decree of March 1, 2016. In addition, there is a (rebuttable) presumption that a foreign company or establishment located in a jurisdiction on the EU List or national list fails the taxation test for CFC purposes. Furthermore, dividends from companies established in a jurisdiction on the EU List would not qualify for the dividends-received deduction regime.
- In France, the participation exemption limitation and the increased withholding tax rate of 75 percent on outbound payments only apply where the jurisdiction was listed due to failure to provide for an effective information exchange or where the jurisdiction facilitates offshore structures aimed at attracting profits that do not reflect real economic activity (EU criterion 2.2). In other words, these defensive measures do not apply with respect to jurisdictions that are listed due to non-compliance with other EU listing criteria.
- In Italy, expenses incurred from transactions with companies / professionals based in jurisdiction on the EU List will only be deductible up to the normal free market value (subject to certain exceptions), whilst the WHT defensive measure applies for countries that are not included on the Italian white list.
- Poland uses a national tax haven list that includes some of the jurisdictions on the EU List, as well as jurisdictions listed by Poland. Changes to the EU List are not automatically reflected in the national tax haven list. For this reason, Poland has a second list that covers those jurisdictions that are included on EU List but not on the national tax haven list. The national tax haven list provides for a broader scope of defensive measures compared to the second EU-related list (e.g., the WHT defensive measure only applies to those countries included on the national tax haven list).
- Sweden uses the EU List for deduction limitation purposes and a white list of countries where income is not considered to be subject to low taxation for CFC purposes.
Lastly, a few EU Member States use only a national tax haven list, which is not necessarily connected with the EU list (Bulgaria, Greece, Lithuania, Portugal, Spain). Nevertheless, a number of jurisdictions included on the EU list may still be captured by the national tax haven lists:
- Greece distinguishes between non-cooperative jurisdictions and jurisdictions with a preferential tax regime. The list of non-cooperative jurisdictions includes non-EU jurisdictions which are included on the OECD list of uncooperative tax havens (not implementing the OECD's standards of transparency and exchange of information) and which (a) have not signed an agreement on administrative cooperation in the field of taxation with Greece or the Council of Europe/OECD Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, and (b) have not committed to implementing the automatic exchange of information (AEOI) as of 2018, at the latest. The list of jurisdictions with preferential tax regimes are defined as jurisdictions with a nil corporate income tax rate, or jurisdictions taxing profits, income or capital at a rate which is equal to or less than 60 percent of the corporate tax rate applicable in Greece. For more information, please refer to E-News Issue 186 and Issue 189.
- Portugal operates a national tax haven list that was last updated in December 2020. This national tax haven list includes 80 jurisdictions and is not connected with the EU List, although it includes most of the jurisdictions included in Annex 1 (excluding the Russian Federation) and some included in Annex 2 of the EU list.
- In Spain, the government published a new list of jurisdictions that are considered to be non-cooperative or to have harmful tax regimes on February 10, 2023 that replaced the previous national list with effect from February 11, 2023. The new national list includes a total of 24 non-cooperative jurisdictions, compared to the list of 48 tax havens originally approved by Royal Decree 1080/1991 (“the 1991 list”). For more information, please refer to E-News Issue 171.
Are changes to the EU List directly applicable in EU Member States?
The complexity of navigating between the various tax haven lists applicable and the various measures applied by each Member State is compounded by the fact that not all countries take into account the changes to the EU List in the same way.
Whilst the majority of Member States provide in local legislation for a direct reference to Annex I in a way that changes to the EU list do not need to be implemented locally2, some Member States require updates to the EU List to be adopted through a separate legislative act or ministerial order to become effective. Some of these Member States adopt the revised EU list in close proximity to the Council decisions in February and October of each year (e.g. Czechia, Denmark, Latvia). Other Member States adopt the revised EU list only once a year (e.g. France, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands) or without a pre-determined frequency (e.g., Hungary).
In Poland, the application depends on the type of defensive measure and from which list (EU/national) the defensive measure results. Some of these measures have immediate application as from the effective date of revision of the EU list, whilst others require additional notification from the Polish Ministry of Finance in line with the EU list, which is usually released within a matter of weeks after the revised EU list is published. Only those defensive measures which solely refer to the national list may have deferred application in line with the date of entry into force of the revised decree of the Minister of Finance.
For completeness, additional or separate national tax haven lists usually need to be adopted through a legislative act or ministerial order to become applicable (e.g., Belgium, Greece, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain). The white list used by Slovakia only becomes effective once published on the website of the Slovak Ministry of Finance.
When do defensive measures become effective or cease to apply in case of changes to the EU List?
Where the EU List is used for purposes of applying national tax defensive measures from the CoCG guidance, national tax defensive measures by a number of Member States apply or cease to apply as soon as the updated EU List is effective for domestic purposes.3 In other Member States changes to the EU List do not always have immediate effect:
- In some EU jurisdictions, the state of the EU List at the end of the respective taxation period or tax year is decisive for the application of defensive measures (e.g., Austria, Czechia).
- In Belgium, the deduction limitation for certain payments applies as soon as the respective country is added to the EU List (publication date in the EU Official Journal). For the other defensive measures, the state of the EU List at the end of the respective taxation period is decisive.
- In France, defensive tax measures will apply against newly included jurisdictions from the first day of the third month following the publication of the decree adopting the change. As regards jurisdictions removed from the list, the defensive measures cease to apply from the publication date of the decree.
- In Germany, the defensive measures generally apply from the beginning of the year (or financial year) that follows the year in which the legislative decree became effective. However, the deduction limitation and the limitation of the participation exemption are subject to a deferred application. Where a jurisdiction is removed from the list, the defensive measures should cease to apply (retroactively) from January 1 of the respective year (or the beginning of the financial year).
- In Luxembourg, the state of the list at the beginning of the calendar year (January 1) is decisive where a country is added to the EU list in a given year. In that case, the domestic defensive measures apply from January 1 of the following year. If a jurisdiction is removed from the EU List during the year, the defensive measures would cease to apply as soon as the respective country is removed from the EU List (publication date in the EU Official Journal).
- In Malta, the participation exemption is denied for countries that were on the EU List for a minimum of three months during the relevant year.
- In the Netherlands, the applicable list for a given tax year is the EU Llist as at the end of the previous tax year (e.g., the version of the EU List as at the end of 2023 is relevant for 2024 for withholding taxes, or in case of the CFC rules for fiscal years commencing on or after January 1, 2024). The defensive measures continue to apply throughout 2024 for a country that would be delisted in October 2024 (i.e. no immediate effect).
What other key differences need to be considered?
The CoCG report on potential defensive measures lacked further guidance on the practicalities of applying such defensive measures by Member States. This lack of harmonization, coupled with variations in the specifics of each MS’s national legal framework have led to uncertainty on a number of points regarding the application of the defensive measures.
It is often the case that jurisdictions considered non-cooperative by the EU do not have a practice of entering into bilateral tax treaties. Furthermore, when determining domestic tax havens list, the absence of a double tax treaty is often a condition for listing. Member States will therefore typically not have double tax treaties in place with listed jurisdictions. This is, however, not always the case. The question therefore arises whether a double tax treaty prevails over a domestic defensive measure, or if a treaty override is available, such that e.g. increased withholding tax rates on payments to non-cooperative jurisdictions / tax havens would apply even where a lower rate is available under an existing double tax treaty.
Some Member States – including Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Poland, will generally disregard the national defensive measure and apply the lower treaty rate (all other things being equal and assuming any treaty anti-abuse provisions would not disregard the payment).
In other EU countries – including Germany, Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia, an increased WHT under a national defensive measures would be applied irrespective of an existing double tax treaty with a non-cooperative jurisdiction, i.e. local legislation provides for a treaty override provision.
Additional consideration should be given to the impact of Russia’s decision to suspend double tax treaties with so-called “unfriendly” countries. This could potentially bring Russia in the scope of domestic tax haven lists – for countries where local lists are not linked to the EU one, and could also impact countries where payments to Russia would have otherwise been outside the scope of certain defensive measures due to lack of treaty override provisions.
The CoCG guidance does not offer additional insights as to the determination of whether the recipient of a payment is resident in a non-cooperative jurisdiction. The question therefore arises whether, when applying defensive measures, Member States should look at the residence of the recipient, their place of establishment and/ or another criterion. The only type of defensive measure for which the answer to this question is clear is the application of CFC rules, which refer specifically to tax residence. For the other types of defensive measures, the identification criteria based on which the defensive measures apply differ among Member States.
For example, some Member States look at the country of tax residence of the recipient of a payment – including Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Czechia, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Malta, Portugal, Spain.
Other Member States refer to either the country of incorporation (e.g., Latvia, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovakia) or to both tax residency and country of incorporation (e.g., Cyprus, Denmark, France, Italy).
In addition, special nexus requirements are provided in certain EU countries, including:
- Belgium and France do not only refer to the aforementioned criteria but also apply defensive measures where the payment in question is made to a bank account held by a financial institution established in a listed jurisdiction (regardless of the domicile of the account holder).
- In Sweden, the interest deduction limitation uses the independent legal term “belonging to”, which is not further defined - it should generally follow tax residence but is also intended to apply to companies that have no tax residence.
In a number of EU countries, certain national tax defensive measures are subject to a purpose/motive test, i.e. the measures do not apply where the taxpayer proves that the underlying payment or transaction follows commercial reasons or has an economic purpose (including France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Spain). In Malta, the participation exemption limitation does not apply where the recipient is able to prove that there are sufficient people functions in the non-cooperative jurisdiction.
In some EU Member States, the defensive measures apply based on a certain order of priority. For example, in Germany, the participation exemption limitation does not apply where it can be demonstrated that the dividends are derived from amounts which were subject to a deduction denial of operating expenses or a WHT defensive measure. In addition, the deduction denial does not apply where the underlying payments have been subject to the WHT defensive measure. In Italy, exceptions to the deduction limitation also apply where taxpayers can prove that the underlying transaction carried out with non-residents is covered by the CFC rules.
Potential future developments
On January 30, 2023, the European Commission issued a position paper for enhancing the EU listing exercise and enforcement of defensive measures. According to the paper, the EU listing exercise has been successful in recent years but – according to the EC, the Pandora Papers revelations show that problems persist. The paper also notes that five of the currently listed jurisdictions have been on the list since 2017 suggesting that the EU listing exercise has not had sufficient impact on these jurisdictions.
In this context, the CoCG work program under the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU (dated October 1, 2024), as well as previous statements by its Chair, indicated that the CoCG will continue reflections on a possible further strengthening of the EU listing process, including:
- design of the additional criterion 1.4 on the exchange of beneficial ownership information (whilst the scope and application of this criterion have not yet been agreed at EU level, the EC is considering a reference to the Anti-Money Laundering (AML) listings, and ratings by the Global Forum on Tax Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes);
- potential link to the Inclusive Framework’s Pillar Two peer-review results once the GloBE rules have been implemented locally;
- extension of the geographical scope of the EU listing exercise by including Brunei Darussalam, Kuwait and New Zealand, as agreed in 2023. According to the report, the CoCG will further reflect on the most appropriate indicators to select additional jurisdictions for future extensions of the geographical scope of the EU list.
And this is not the end, as the defensive measures themselves are expected to evolve in the future. The CoCG has conducted a review of existing national legislation implementing EU guidance on tax and administrative defensive measures.
The intention of the CoCG is to take a step further and conduct an in-depth follow-up review of how Member States apply the measures in practice and whether they meet the Group’s expectations in terms of efficiency. The June 2024 CoCG report included a questionnaire for the annual monitoring of tax defensive measures along with a plan to have the first monitoring exercise taking place in 2025 with respect to the application of the measures in 2021.
This additional investigation would offer the CoCG an overview of the practical impact of the defensive measures and could serve as a starting point for potential additional guidance to better coordinate existing measures as well as to introduce new types of defensive measures. This could include a common withholding tax on dividend, interest and royalty payments made to non-cooperative jurisdictions.
Conclusion
Entities that operate in or make payments towards jurisdictions that have been deemed non-cooperative (either by the EU or by individual Member States) or that are under monitoring, should seek to understand whether any defensive measures may apply and when. As outlined in this article, taxpayers need to consider different lists, different defensive measures, different application timelines and other varying requirements that are applied across EU Member States. Therefore, it is advisable to integrate these considerations into existing internal compliance management procedures.
KPMG’s EU Tax Centre will continue to monitor developments related to the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions and its impact and report on events via our publications.
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1 Medium or larger subsidiary / branches as defined by the Romanian bill implementing the EU Accounting Directive (Directive 2013/34/EU).
2 For example, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Sweden.
3 For example, Croatia, Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden.