Tax Evasion: France Removing Jersey and Bermuda from Havens Blacklist

Jersey and Bermuda will be removed from a French blacklist of tax havens that would not co-operate with information sharing.

France blacklists any tax jurisdictions that it believes are uncooperative in the country's attempts to crack down on evasion by firms and individuals. Those on the list face additional taxation on capital moving between them and France.

"Bermuda and Jersey have satisfied to date all requests for information from France, allowing them to avoid reprisals under the law," said France's finance ministry.

Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici and Budget Minister Bernard Cazeneuve wrote to the French parliament to inform it of plans to remove Jersey and Bermuda from the blacklist in the New Year.

Countries across the world are trying to tackle tax avoidance and evasion as governments battle with tough austerity programmes of tax rises and spending cuts to balance public budgets in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

At a meeting in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, leaders of the G8 agreed to a declaration of principles on tackling tax dodgers, including greater transparency on companies' beneficial ownership and more information sharing between national tax authorities.

In July, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released an action plan on how to tackle the abuse of double-taxation laws, there to prevent firms being taxed twice in different jurisdictions but which are used by some to avoid paying anything anywhere.

It looked at "base erosion and profit shifting" in particular, where firms "shift profits across borders to take advantage of tax rates that are lower than in the country where the profit is made."

The OECD called for greater information sharing between countries and forcing firms across all jurisdictions to declare where they pay tax and how much is handed over, to ensure money is paid to authorities where sales are generated.