The Cayman Islands government confirmed earlier this week that the jurisdiction had been removed from Annex 1 of the European Union’s (“EU”) list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (the “EU Blacklist”).
This action by the EU recognises the continuing cooperation by the Cayman Islands in meeting international standards of good tax governance and confirms the commitment of the jurisdiction in maintaining the market leading reputation of its financial services sector and the integrity and robustness of its regulatory framework.
The announcement of the removal of the Cayman Islands from the EU Blacklist came after a meeting of the EU’s Economic and Financial Affairs Council.
The Premier of the Cayman Islands, the Hon. Alden McLaughlin said that the placing of the Cayman Islands on the EU Blacklist in February 2020 was in relation to investment funds supervision and that the Cayman Islands had responded positively by expanding the scope of their investment funds regime to ensure that their financial services regulator, the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, had the legal mandate to supervise all Cayman-based investment funds.
The removal of the Cayman Islands from the EU Blacklist follows the assessment of the jurisdiction’s tax regime by the OECD’s Forum on Harmful Tax Practices in July 2019 as “not harmful”, being the highest possible ranking.
Premier McLaughlin stated that “we will continue collaborating with the EU, including through broadening our dialogue to topics of mutual interest. These include green financing and key topics outside of financial services, such as environmental matters and tourism”.