Two GCC countries - Bahrain and the UAE - figure on a blacklist of tax havens issues by the UAE, according to a Reuters report.

On Tuesday, EU finance ministers adopted a blacklist of tax havens which includes 17 extra-EU jurisdictions seen as not cooperative on tax matters, French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said. The other countries are countries American Samoa, Barbados, Grenada, Guam, South Korea, Macau, Marshall Islands, Mongolia, Namibia, Palau, Panama, Saint Lucia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago and Tunisia.

The Minister said 47 other jurisdictions are on a "grey" list of countries that are currently not compliant with EU standards but have committed to change their tax rules.

Following numerous disclosures of offshore tax avoidance schemes by companies and wealthy individuals, EU states launched a process in February to list tax havens. This is meant to discourage setting up shell structures abroad which are themselves in many cases legal but could hide illegal financial activities.

Possible penalties include blacklisted countries losing access to EU funds. Other measures would be decided in the coming weeks, Le Maire said.

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Khadiza Begum

Content Writer

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