By:Erasmus Williams
Basseterre/Brussels, March 10, 2018 – St. Kitts and is to be placed on the European Union’s blacklist of tax havens.
As a blacklisted jurisdiction, St. Kitts and Nevis could face reputational damage and stricter controls on their financial transactions.
The Federation was among Caribbean islands hit by hurricanes last year given more time to comply with EU tax transparency standards when the bloc’s blacklist was established in December.
The decision to blacklist St. Kitts and Nevis was taken by EU tax experts and is set to be endorsed by EU finance ministers at a regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, when the 28 EU governments are also expected to delist Bahrain, the Marshall Islands and St. Lucia.
The Bahamas and the U.S. Virgin Islands are also set to be added to the European Union blacklist of tax havens, raising to nine the number of jurisdictions on it, an EU document seen by Reuters shows.
As a result, the blacklist would maintain nine jurisdictions deemed to facilitate tax avoidance. The other six are American Samoa, Guam, Namibia, Palau, Samoa and Trinidad and Tobago.
The document, prepared by EU officials and dated March 8, also adds Anguilla, The British Virgin Islands, Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda to a so-called grey list of jurisdictions which do not respect EU anti-tax avoidance standards but have committed to change their practices.
The grey list includes dozens of jurisdictions from all over the world.
Blacklisted jurisdictions could face reputational damage and stricter controls on their financial transactions with the EU, although no sanctions have been agreed by EU states yet.
Those who are in the grey list could be moved to the blacklist if they do not honour their commitments.