Belize's offshore sector fought mightily to get off the EU blacklist in December, but today we were put back on that list. At a meeting of EU economy and finance ministers on Tuesday 10 countries were added to the list which is designed to name and shame "non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposesâ€Â¦failing to meet agreed tax good governance standards".
The note on Belize says that this country has not yet, quote, "amended or abolished one harmful preferential tax regime. Belize's commitment to amend or abolish its newly identified harmful preferential tax regime by the end of 2019 will be monitored." End quote.
A release from government this evening says, quote,
"The Government of Belize has significant concerns about the erroneous conclusions drawn about Belize's commitment to work with its global partners in establishing a modern fair international tax framework under which profits are taxed where economic activity and value creation occur, as well as the process by which the EU concluded that Belize should be placed on this list..."
But, the release notes that Belize has made significant amendments which met EU standards and concludes, quote,
"Having acted in good faith, Belize now finds itself unfairly and erroneously labelled by the European Union as a "non-cooperative tax jurisdictionâ€Â¦the rushed EU process can be characterised as non-consultative, inflexible and insensitive to the circumstances of small, highly vulnerable states such as Belize" and concludes, "Belize reaffirms its commitment to work with its global partners in establishing a modern fair international tax framework under which profits are taxed where economic activity and value creation occur."
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