Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Jul 24, 2025

OECD: BVI tax regime “not harmful”

OECD: BVI tax regime “not harmful”

The legal framework of the Virgin Islands, along with those of 11 other low- and no-tax jurisdictions, has been declared “not harmful” by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Forum on Harmful Tax Practices.

Last week, the FHTP concluded its review of the jurisdictions and announced they were in compliance with the organisation’s Substantial Activities Standard, which requires that core income-generating activities for certain sectors must be conducted in the territory.

The announcement was another victory for the VI’s Economic Substance Act, which was rushed through the House of Assembly late last year in order to successfully keep off the European Union blacklist of non-cooperative
tax jurisdictions.

“We welcome the peer review by the OECD of our new substance requirements,” said Elise Donovan, CEO of BVI Finance. “It is a significant positive development which follows months of hard work from Neil Smith and the team to draft and enact legislation which meets relevant substance requirements and continues to demonstrate BVI’s value to the global economy.”

Starting in October 2019, the VI act will require entities engaged in certain business — and which are tax resident and incorporated in the VI — to report their activity to prove compliance with the act.

To provide guidance for companies, a draft Economic Substance Code was released earlier this year, and the final version is due out shortly, after input from industry professionals.

Next year, an annual OECD monitoring process will begin examining the VI and other jurisdictions to determine how well the measures are being implemented and enforced.

Other jurisdictions

Also included in the review were 11 other “no or only nominal tax” jurisdictions that agreed to the new substantial activities standard in November 2018, all of which introduced new legislation in an attempt to meet it.

These included Anguilla, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey and the Turks and Caicos Islands, which were deemed “not harmful” last month.

The last jurisdiction, the United Arab Emirates, was also found to be in line with the standard but with “one technical point outstanding.”

The UAE committed to make further legislative changes, and its law is now “in the process of being amended,” according to the OECD.

So far, the FHTP has reviewed 287 regimes, 59 of which have been deemed “not harmful.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
×