Malta and EU Tax and Compliance Policy Bulletin 89
Author: David Marinelli
Common EU list of third country jurisdictions for tax purposes
The ECOFIN Council has updated the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, adding the BVI, Costa Rica, Marshall Islands and Russia. The countries in the list below are those that refused to engage with the EU or to address tax good governance shortcomings (situation on 14 February 2023): American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad & Tobago, Turks & Caicos, US Virgin Islands, and Vanuatu.
EU Relaxes State Aid Rules in Transatlantic Subsidy Race
The European Commission decided to amend the General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER), allowing more scope for the granting of State aid and subsidies by Member states in response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). Alongside theTemporary Crisis and Transition Framework, this package now makes it much easier for governments to provide State support for key sectors in line with the Europe’s Green Deal Industrial Plan.
EU Commission Adopts Regulation on Tax Transparency
The European Union has adopted an Implementing Regulation concerning tax transparency and the criteria for information reported by platforms to non-EU countries and exchanged with Member States. This Regulation establishes criteria for determining whether information automatically exchanged under an agreement between the tax authorities of Member States and a non-EU country is equivalent to that specified in Council Directive (EU) 2021/514 (‘DAC7’), i.e. mandatory automatic exchange of information reported by platform operators.
The Implementing Regulation establishes criteria to be considered by the Commission in assessing equivalence of exchange process, concerning definitions such as Reporting Platform Operator, Reportable Sellers and Relevant Activity, assessing due diligence procedures, reporting requirements and procedures. The Regulation will enter into force 20 days after its publication in the Official Journal of the European Union.
