EU Designates Belize as a Non-cooperative Jurisdiction

Belize is among ten new jurisdictions blacklisted as tax havens by the European Union. These include: Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Dominica, Fiji, the Marshall Islands, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Vanuatu. The measures were announced today in Brussels due to shortfalls in rules that could favour tax evasions in other countries. It means that these countries face stricter controls on transactions with the E.U. five other countries were already blacklisted by the E.U.  The government was quick to reject the designation of the country on the list of Non-Cooperative Jurisdictions for Tax Purposes.  In its statement, G.O.B. raises concerns about the inaccurate conclusions drawn in respect of its obligation to work with global partners in establishing a modern fair international tax framework. Government says that in December 2018, the National Assembly adopted the International Business Companies (Amendment) Act, as well as the Designated Processing Areas Act which sought to remove harmful features identified by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD.  It adds that a review of its legislative changes was conducted at the fifty-first meeting of the OECD and that the conclusion, Belize’s IBC regime was amended to not harmful.