· · On 14 February 2023, the Council of the European Union updated the European Union (EU) list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes and added Costa Rica for the first time in relation to its foreign source income exemption regime.
· As a result, EU Member States may include Costa Rica on their lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes under their domestic laws and may apply defensive measures.
On 14 February 2023, the Council of the European Union (the Council) updated the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes (the EU list) and added Costa Rica in the Annex I (so called “blacklist”) for the first time.
Background
The list includes jurisdictions worldwide that either have not engaged in a constructive dialogue with the EU on tax governance or have failed to deliver on their commitments to implement the reforms necessary to comply with a set of objective “tax good governance” criteria related to tax transparency, fair taxation and the implementation of international standards to prevent tax base erosion and profit shifting.
Updated list
Costa Rica was included on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes by the Council on 14 February 2023 after failing to its commitment to abolish or amend the harmful aspects of its foreign source income exemption regime (Criterion 2.1).
With the 14 February 2023 update, there are 16 jurisdictions on the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions (Annex I) which includes: American Samoa, Anguilla, Bahamas, British Virgin Islands, Costa Rica, Fiji, Guam, Marshall Islands, Palau, Panama, Russia, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu.
Implications
As a result of the inclusion of Costa Rica on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions, EU Member States may include Costa Rica on their lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes under their domestic laws and may apply defensive measures.
The Council updates the list two times a year and is expected to update the list in October 2023.
For additional information with respect to this Alert, please contact the following:
· Rafael Sayagués | rafael.sayagues@cr.ey.com
· Randall Oquendo | randall.oquendo@cr.ey.com
· Daniel Quesada | daniel.quesada@cr.ey.com