EU removes Serbia from “gray list” of tax havens

The Council of Ministers of the European Union has removed Serbia from the “gray list” of tax havens, as it has determined that the country complies with all commitments on tax cooperation and that it has carried out all the necessary reforms toward the harmonization with the EU tax principles.

The explanation of the decision says that Serbia ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance ("MAC") on August 30, 2019, as announced today on the Council's official website.

The Council also found Albania, Costa Rica, Mauritius, and Switzerland to be compliant with all commitments on tax cooperation.

The list was established in December 2017 and is contained in annex I of the conclusions adopted by the Council. The conclusions also contain a second annex which includes jurisdictions that have undertaken sufficient commitments to reform their tax policies and whose reforms are being monitored by the Council's code of conduct group on business taxation.

As part of the regular review, the Council agreed to remove the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the Marshall Islands from the EU's list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.

Nine jurisdictions remain on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions: American Samoa, Belize, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu, the EU announced.