Dominica News Online:  

The European Union (EU) has added Dominica to its so-called grey list of jurisdictions that don’t adhere to anti-tax avoidance standards but promised to make change their ways.

The island became the latest addition to the ‘grey list’ when the European Union’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN) met in Brussels on Tuesday, March 14, 2018. The British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda were also added to the list.

Dominica and the other countries that were grey listed were given a reprieve since they were not been previously assessed for compliance with EU tax cooperation standards because they were badly hit by the hurricanes in September 2017. Dominica was hit and severely devastated by Hurricane Maria. Hence, the screening of their tax systems had been put on hold until early 2018.

The grey list countries will be subject to close EU monitoring.

In announcing the reprieve for the hurricane-hit islands in December, the EU had stated that those jurisdictions “will be asked to address the concerns identified as soon as the situation improves, with a view to resolving them by the end of 2018. By February 2018, they will be contacted to prepare the next steps.”

On Tuesday, the Bahamas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Saint Kitts and Nevis were added to the bloc’s ‘black list’ of countries for being tax havens.

St. Lucia, which was previously on the black list, was removed.