Following a meeting between EU officials in Brussels, the commission confirmed its endorsement of Guernsey as a “cooperative jurisdiction”.
In the wake of this announcement, Guernsey’s chief minister, Jonathan Le Tocq, wrote to the European tax commissioner Pierre Moscovici to welcome the news.
“This recognises not only Guernsey’s adherence to the OECD and Global Forum international standards on transparency and information exchange, but also that our corporate tax regime has been assessed as compliant with the EU’s Code of Conduct on Corporate Taxation, and hence not containing harmful measures,” he said.
Last month, Le Tocq spoke exclusively to International Adviser to defend Guernsey’s position. He called the island an “international leader” when it comes to tax cooperation.
On 17 June, the European Commission published a list citing 30 regions – including Hong Kong, the Cayman Islands and Mauritius – as non-cooperative. Countries were measured on their compliance with the exchange of information standards.
However, the list was criticised by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which argued the commission had failed to produce transparent and consistent methodology when calculating which countries where so-called ‘tax havens’.
Overlooked
Dominic Wheatley, the chief executive of Guernsey Finance, said Guernsey’s contribution to the European economy “should not be overlooked” and is “an important business partner for the EU”.
“It has also been welcome to have confirmation from organisations such as the European Investment Fund that not only do they also recognise that Guernsey was not in any way ‘blacklisted’, but also that they are aware of the positive recognition of Guernsey’s track record by the OECD.”
Wheatley added that the clarification from the EU “should give full confidence to all those looking to do business in Guernsey”.
Guernsey was an ‘early adopter’ of the common reporting standards ahead of several other European countries.
