Macau (MNA) – The Financial Services Bureau (DSF) told Macau News Agency (MNA) on Wednesday that it is following the necessary steps to remove the Macau SAR from the European Union (EU) blacklist of tax havens issued on December 5.
According to the Bureau, relevant departments are currently ‘following up the extension of the application of Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters to the Macau SAR, as well as the reviewing and amending of the Offshore Institution Regime.’
On December 5, the Council of the European Union published its first list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes, which include the MSAR among the 17 jurisdictions which have been targeted and blacklisted as tax havens.
According to the EU report, the MSAR has not signed and ratified the OECD Multilateral Convention referred above and did not commit to addressing these issues by 31 December 2018.
The DSF claimed further that once the works being put forward are accomplished, ‘it is believed that the Macau SAR will be able to fulfill the EU criteria for being removed from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions.’
The financial authority did not clarify to MNA the timetable for applying for the extension of the Multilateral Convention, nor specified which aspects of the Regime are being revised and amended.
It stated, however, that the ‘Macau SAR has been maintaining communication with the EU and keeps the Union informed about [its] latest work progress on combating cross-border tax evasion and promoting fair taxation.’
The EU report stated further that the Union will monitor the MSAR’s commitment to both transparency and fair taxation through two main venues, namely, the region’s commitment to comply with the implementation of the automatic exchange of information – either by signing the Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement or through bilateral agreements – and to address what it considers to be a ‘harmful’ tax regime.
