Macau has been removed from a European Union blacklist which had previously named the Asian gaming hub as a tax avoidance haven.
The EU announced in December a list of 17 nations it considered to be “non-cooperative taxation jurisdictions” based on three key factors – tax transparency, fair taxation and the implementation of anti-BEPS measures – but removed Macau this week after the government outlined measures to address the relevant issues.
In a statement, the Macau SAR Government said it “welcomes the decision of the delisting of the Macau SAR from the list of non-cooperative tax jurisdictions by the EU and reiterates our continued effort to work together with the international community on fighting against cross-border tax evasion as well as actively improving the work in the scope of tax transparency and fair taxation.
“With the support of the Central Government, the Macau SAR has been actively in contact with the EU to express the position and describe the work progress and expected time-line of the extension of the ‘Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance and Administration in Tax Matters’ to the Macau SAR, which ultimately leads to a proper solution of the concerned issue.”
The government added that it had been already been authorized by China’s Central Government to sign the ‘Multilateral Competent Authority Agreement’ while procedures to extend the ‘Multilateral Convention on Mutual Assistance and Administration in Tax Matters’ to the Macau SAR were in the final stage.
“By then, the Macau SAR will be able to exchange financial account information with other tax jurisdictions including all EU member states,” it said. “Simultaneously, the legal regime of the offshore business sector will be improved to further enhance the administrative work of taxation.”
