The BVI has once again avoided the European Union (EU) tax haven blacklist, which means the territory continues to be a fully cooperative tax jurisdiction that is observing all the tax good-governance standards.
The latest blacklist was published on October 4 and included 12 non-cooperative countries.
Avoiding the list is good news for the BVI’s financial services industry — one of the territory’s two main economic pillars.
The BVI used to be one of the top jurisdictions on that list for years but has managed to avoid it since February 2020.
However, some of the territory’s neighbours were not as lucky. They are Trinidad & Tobago, the US Virgin Islands, and Anguilla.
The Bahamas also made the list and the Turks and Caicos Islands appeared for the first time.
For all the countries blacklisted, the EU says it “regrets that these jurisdictions are non-cooperative on tax matters and invites them to engage with the EU’s Code of Conduct Group in order to resolve the identified issues”.
Other countries on the blacklist are American Samoa, Fiji, Guam, Palau, Panama, Samoa and Vanuatu.