PARIS, Aug 29 (Reuters) – France has added Jersey, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands to its list of uncooperative tax havens, paving the way for tougher financial levies as the EU’s No. 2 economy tries to crack down on tax evasion.
French tax law applies some of its harshest rates on investors from countries deemed to be uncooperative.
France added the three countries to the blacklist and removed the Philippines, an entry in France’s gazette for official decisions dated Aug. 21 showed. That puts the total number of countries on the list at 10, including Guatemala, Botswana, Brunei and the Marshall Islands.
“Being on the ‘blacklist’ triggers the application of 75 percent withholding taxes on French source flows to those territories and the strengthening of anti-abuse mechanisms,” said Michel Collet, a partner at law firm CMS Francis Lefebvre in Paris.