Actually, the thing is clear: the European Union should put the US on its black list of tax havens. By June, the government in Washington had time to meet all the demands of the Europeans. The last open point was that the US either had to join an international agreement on the automatic exchange of information or conclude bilateral agreements with all EU countries. But this was missing Croatia, even in June.
The EU was still reluctant to blacklist the US, arguably to avoid escalating the trade dispute with US President Donald Trump. At the same time, Brussels demanded a written commitment from the US to continue to seek a solution. The room also had a re-examination in 2022.
This is now done: On Thursday, the EU finance ministers in Brussels, the latest version of the black list decide - and issue the US for information from the SPIEGEL final a Persilschein.
EU suddenly satisfied
As stated in an internal letter from the EU Council, the US still has no agreement with Croatia on the exchange of tax information. However, this also happens within the context of the industrialized countries organization OECD. A "dialogue" between an EU expert panel and the US Treasury Department has shown that this is "mutually satisfactory". Although this type of data transfer exists since 1988, as the letter also says. But why the EU has just decided that this is enough remains open.
In addition, on 3 September, the Croatian Minister of Finance received a letter from Washington in which the US Treasury promised to continue the exchange of information in accordance with international rules. It is said that the US fulfilled the last necessary criterion in order not to be blacklisted.
The Greens in the European Parliament see it differently. The US authorities are still unable to identify actual beneficiaries, such as letterbox companies. There will therefore be no real exchange of information in the future. "American letterbox companies remain intransparent for European tax authorities," says Green MEP Sven Giegold. "US special treatment makes the blacklist untrustworthy."
Switzerland is taken off the gray list
At the end of 2017, following EU revelations such as the Panama Papers, the EU stepped up its anti-tax evasion action, including black and gray lists. On Thursday, the EU wants to remove the United Arab Emirates and the Marshall Islands from the blacklist. The latter would still be noted on a "gray list" for monitoring. This list also includes Albania, Costa Rica, Mauritius, Serbia and Switzerland, which are now also to be officially canceled.
Switzerland has achieved this by changing its tax legislation in several places, including to ensure equal treatment of nationals and foreigners. Giegold still finds it "absurd" that Switzerland is therefore taken off the gray list. "The last corporate tax reform lowered tax rates in many cantons and created new tax-saving models," said the Green Party politician. Although Switzerland fulfills the European minimum requirements, which allowed zero taxation of profits. But this only shows that "the EU has to revise its own rules".
