Bermuda deemed cooperative jurisdiction with respect to tax good governance, the highest grade available under EU Finance Ministers[‘] (ECOFIN) assessment
The Government of Bermuda is pleased to confirm that [today] it has been graded by EU Finance Ministers (ECOFIN) as a ‘cooperative jurisdiction’ with respect to tax good governance. ECOFIN endorsed the assessment of the European Commission and the EU’s Code of Conduct Group on Business Taxation (CoCG) that Bermuda had met its commitments to address concerns raised by the EU in 2019 in relation to economic substance requirements.
The Premier of Bermuda, The Hon E. David Burt JP MP, commented: ‘The recognition of Bermuda as cooperative is welcome validation of the global blue chip status to which we operate, described by some as the Bermuda Standard. This is a positive follow-on to the very strong ratings that Bermuda attained in the recent assessment of our regime to combat money laundering, terrorist financing and proliferation financing, which, based on all such assessments done globally to date, placed Bermuda as #1 for overall technical compliance and #7 in effectiveness. The ECOFIN decision completes a journey for our island, placing us in pole position to maintain our global competitiveness as a service and finance centre, including in fintech, for our world-class client base and other stakeholders.’
The ECOFIN announcement can be found here: http://dsms.consilium.europa.eu/952/Actions/Newsletter.aspx?messageid=40867&customerid=74456&password=enc_38383474723156346D6E3731_enc
Note to Editors
As background, in May 2019 ECOFIN had placed Bermuda in Annex II of the Council conclusions of December 5, 2017, as subsequently revised. This meant that Bermuda had been assessed as cooperative, but subject to the implementation by the end of 2019 of a commitment made to the EU. In Bermuda’s case, that commitment related to concerns identified by the EU regarding economic substance in the area of collective investment funds . ECOFIN today confirmed that Bermuda had delivered on its last outstanding commitment and accordingly decided to remove Bermuda from Annex II.