From The Daily Herald St. Maaten

THE HAGUE–Anguilla, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the Cayman Islands and the Turks and Caicos Islands were added to the tax haven black list of the Dutch government.

  There are 21 countries/islands on the new Dutch list which was published in the National Gazette on Friday. The list of countries/islands that have no profit tax or a very low one is used to enforce measures against tax evasion.

  Sixteen states were added to the five countries that already appear on the black list of the European Union (EU). These five are: American Samoa, the United States Virgin Islands (USVI), Guam, Samoa and Trinidad & Tobago.

  Taking things a step further, the Netherlands has placed 16 new countries/islands on its own black list. These are: Anguilla, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Belize, Bermuda, the BVI, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, the Cayman Islands, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the Turks and Caicos Islands, Vanuatu and the United Arab Emirates. These are all states without a profit tax or a very low profit tax of less than 9 per cent.

  Dutch State Secretary of Finance Menno Snel stated in a press release on Monday: “By drafting our own strict black list, we again show that we are serious about combating tax evasion. And this is just one of the measures that we are taking.”

  The black list will be used in a series of measures to combat tax evasion. Per January 1, 2019, a measure will be introduced to prevent businesses from transferring mobile assets to tax havens.

  The black list will also be used to implement a tax on interest and royalties per January 1, 2021. This means that countries that are registered on the Dutch list will be paying 20.5 per cent tax on interest and royalties they receive from the Netherlands. This prevents the Netherlands from being used for transfer activities to tax havens.

  The Dutch black list will be drafted again every year. The European black list will be set in the first quarter of 2019. Countries that are placed on the European list and that are not yet on the Dutch list will be considered tax havens as well and subject to the Dutch anti-tax evasion measures.    

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