The EU wants to remove three countries from the list of tax havens

European Union (EU) finance ministers are set to remove Seychelles, Dominica and Anguilla from the blacklist of tax havens next week. Panama has not succeeded in its request for removal from this list. The Reuters news agency reported on Tuesday. The blacklist was created in 2017 to combat large-scale tax evasion and avoidance and has been regularly updated to remove or add tax jurisdictions depending on their tax reforms. European Union tax experts have recommended the exclusion of the Caribbean island of Dominica, the British Caribbean Anguilla and the island state of Seychelles on the grounds that they have undertaken to undergo an additional review of their tax systems with the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Tax Information. The three tax jurisdictions should be moved to the "gray list" of European Union countries that have shown a commitment to implement tax reforms pending the outcome of the agreed complementary review. In the case of Panama, the EU lacks a commitment from that country to abolish or amend the harmful exemption regime for foreign income tax. Turkey should remain on the gray list, as Ankara still hinders the automatic exchange of tax information with Cyprus, an EU Member State. A decision to remove them from the blacklist is expected on 5 October at a meeting with European Union finance ministers in Luxembourg. Blacklisted countries are subject to stricter controls on financial transactions with the European Union.