October 12, 2026

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The European Post

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October 12, 2026

Newsletter

The European Post

Policy • Diplomacy • strategic insight

LATEST
Social Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade AgreementSocial Security Coordination Reform Clears The Council After A DecadeCreative Europe 2027 Budget Sets €402 Million For Final YearNature Restoration Plans Reach Brussels As Review Clock StartsBerlin Sudan Aid Pledges Now Face A Delivery TestLebanon Tranche Ties EU Support For Lebanon To Reform GoalsLeaving The Parental Home Now Takes Until 26.3 Across The EUDigital Fairness Act Targets Dark Patterns Before Q4 DraftSatellite Operators Await The EU Space Act TriloguesCeuta Crisis Hangs Over Leaders Debate On Irregular Border CrossingsTen Warships Needed For Operation Aspides As Foreign Ministers MeetAmbassadors Weigh Digital Omnibus Cookie Rules On Sunday VoteHousing Exclusion Recommendation Heads To MinistersCapital Markets Supervision Package Wins A Council PositionPanama And Viet Nam Exit The EU Tax Blacklist In ReviewSixteen Capitals Run Late On The Consumer Credit Directive DeadlineBuilding Renovation Plans Leave Nine Capitals Facing EU Legal ActionEU-China Hybrid Car Deal Leaves Leaders To Judge Beijing’s OfferSwitzerland-EU Treaty Package Faces A Cantonal Majority Test In 2027Hybrid Threats Draw The EU Partnership Mission In ArmeniaFarm Quotas Hinge On The EU-Mercosur Interim Trade Agreement

Panama And Viet Nam Leave The EU Tax Blacklist For The Grey List

Marian Lund
Legislative Tracker, Taxation

Panama City: The EU tax blacklist lost two names from its harshest tier on 9 October 2026, when finance ministers in the Economic and Financial Affairs Council approved the latest revision of the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. Panama and Viet Nam moved from Annex I, the blacklist, to Annex II, the grey list, while Belize left the grey list altogether.

The Council moved Panama and Viet Nam while it waits for an in-depth review of their exchange of information frameworks by the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes. Belize exited Annex II after it met the international standard on exchange of information on request, a result that the Global Forum rated largely compliant. Montenegro stays under monitoring because it kept its commitment to an in-depth Global Forum review, but the Council wants to see the published outcome first.

Eight jurisdictions now sit on the EU tax blacklist: American Samoa, Anguilla, Guam, Palau, Russia, the Turks and Caicos Islands, the US Virgin Islands and Vanuatu. Vanuatu made progress on tax transparency but stays listed because of an outstanding concern in another area. Anguilla also remains after new worries emerged over its exchange of information framework, and the Council said it regrets that development and invited Anguilla to engage with the Code of Conduct Group and the Global Forum.

Annex II now holds ten jurisdictions: the British Virgin Islands, Brunei Darussalam, Eswatini, Greenland, Jordan, Montenegro, Morocco, Panama, Türkiye and Viet Nam. Brunei received more time, until 22 December 2026, to reform its foreign-source income exemption regime. Türkiye remains on the grey list because it does not exchange information with Cyprus.

The Council screens countries against three groups of criteria: tax transparency, fair taxation and the implementation of the OECD’s anti-base erosion and profit shifting standards. A place on the EU tax blacklist carries real consequences, because member states coordinate defensive tax measures against listed jurisdictions, and the EU tax blacklist also shapes how banks and investors price risk in those markets. The Commission, for its part, offers technical assistance to countries that want to leave the list. The revision takes effect once the Official Journal publishes the revised annexes.

The Council reviews the list twice a year, and the next update is expected in February 2027. That timetable gives Panama and Viet Nam about four months to satisfy the Global Forum reviewers, and it gives Anguilla and Vanuatu the same window to fix the issues that keep them in Annex I. Companies with subsidiaries in those places should watch the Global Forum publications as closely as the Council decisions.

For tax advisers, the October revision shows that the EU tax blacklist moves in both directions. A jurisdiction can leave quickly when it passes a peer review, and it can slide back when a new concern appears, as Anguilla found. The February update will show whether Panama and Viet Nam keep their place on the grey list or return to the blacklist.

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