MyVueNews Staff-writer
Basseterre, St. Kitts, 14th March, 2018 (MyVueNews.com) – The recent blacklisting of St. Kitts and Nevis’ financial services industry has prompted a response by the Ministry of Finance.
The EU listed St. Kitts and Nevis as a “non-cooperative jurisdiction” in its latest review of countries.
Responding to this latest blacklisting, the Prime Minister’s Press Office quotes Financial Secretary Hilary Hazel as saying, “During the process of engaging with the EU, concrete commitments were made by the Federation to amend the relevant legislation to address the EU’s concerns. The Federation remains optimistic that these commitments will persuade EU’s partners to remove the Federation from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes and allow for a framework of cooperation and dialogue moving forward.”
According to Hazel, St. Kitts and Nevis remains committed to transparency and the exchange of information for tax purposes as, she said, is evident with the larger compliant rating by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
Haze said, “Further, Saint Kitts and Nevis has continued to expand its exchange of information network and is a signatory to the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance for Tax Matters.”
It is understood that St Kitts and Nevis’ only areas of concern for the EU are in respect of: Fair Taxation where (a) a jurisdiction should have no preferential tax measures that could be regarded as harmful and (b) a jurisdiction should not facilitate offshore structures or arrangements aimed at attracting profits which do not reflect real economic activity in the jurisdiction.”
The Financial Secretary said also, “We anticipate a series of actions to be taken to ensure that Saint Kitts and Nevis addresses the EU’s current concerns within the stipulated timeframe of 31 December 2018. In this regard, Saint Kitts and Nevis will undertake a comprehensive review of its legislation with a view to addressing any deficiencies including amending relevant legislation in accordance with best practice in international tax matters.”
Hall also informed that during the period 2016-2017, important members of the European Union, such as Italy, Greece, Poland and Estonia, removed St. Kitts and Nevis from their national lists of non-cooperative jurisdictions.