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After months of deadlock, EU countries reached an agreement on a low-rate minimum tax for multinational profits at the EU level. This follows a deal struck at the international level to implement a global minimum tax.  

Research published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists today shows that multinational corporations are using the tax haven of Mauritius to avoid paying millions of dollars of tax across Africa.

Despite EU intentions to crack down on tax avoidance, the European Commission’s Anti-Tax Avoidance Package does not do what it says on the tin, warns Oxfam, and developing countries will feel the EU’s failure most.

The European Commission has today opened a state aid probe into the tax affairs of furniture giant Ikea with the Netherlands. This new case shows Europe still has to put its own house in order when it comes to ending tax havens within the EU.

Tomorrow, Tuesday 16 February, European Union finance ministers will review the EU tax havens list, officially known as the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. This is an assessment of non-EU countries according to the current blacklist criteria. This process started in 2017 and takes place twice a year. Currently, 12 countries are blacklisted and 10 are ‘grey-listed’.  

Today, European finance ministers updated the EU tax haven list. They added four countries to the blacklist (British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, the Marshall Islands and the Russian Federation), three to the greylist (Albania, Aruba and Curacao) and they removed four countries from the greylist (Barbados, Jamaica, North Macedonia and Uruguay).

Today, Tuesday 5 October, European economic and finance ministers met to approve an update to the EU’s list of tax havens. This comes in the midst of the unfolding Pandora papers scandal and global tax negotiations. 

EU finance ministers today discussed the future "EU blacklist" for tax havens. The proposal says that a 0% tax rate will only be seen as an "indicator" that a particular country or a tax jurisdiction should be screened - but that further analysis will be required before they end up on any blacklist.In reaction, Oxfam’s EU tax expert Aurore Chardonnet said:“It's welcome that the EU now accepts that a 0% tax rate is potentially harmful, but it is more serious than simply being an ‘indicator’ that warrants investigation. A 0% tax…

EU finance ministers have today adopted the first EU blacklist of tax havens. The list includes 17 mostly small countries. The EU has also published an additional grey list of countries that currently qualify as tax havens, but have promised reforms.Reacting to the news, Aurore Chardonnet, Oxfam EU policy advisor on inequality and tax, said:“It is disturbing to see mostly small countries on the EU blacklist, while the most notorious tax havens got away on the ‘grey list’.“It seems the EU’s pressure has obliged some of the most notorious tax havens like…

Europe’s 20 biggest banks are registering over a quarter of their profits in tax havens – well out of proportion to the level of real economic activity that occurs there, according to a new report by Oxfam and the Fair Finance Guide International today.