Guernsey to hear next month if it’s on latest EU blacklist
GUERNSEY is due to find out early next month whether it is to be included on a new European Union tax blacklist, the director of the Channel Islands Brussels Office has said.
Steve Williams, who was speaking at a Jersey finance industry conference, said the blacklist of ‘non-cooperative jurisdictions’, together with new requirements to register beneficial ownership of trusts, were current EU policy developments of particular importance to the islands.
In terms of the blacklist, Mr Williams explained that Jersey and Guernsey were among the 92 jurisdictions currently being screened by panels of experts established by the EU Code of Conduct Group on business taxation.
Although the Channel Islands were expected to fulfil most of the requirements, the assessment of ‘real economic activity’ was ‘potentially more problematic’ and open to interpretation.
‘That is not helped by the fact that currently there is no international standard on these matters, particularly in relation to investment holding companies,’ he said.
Full story in today's Guernsey Press
