On October 9, 2026, in a meeting of ECOFIN the EU Ministers of Economics and Finance concluded that the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes adopted by the Council of the European Union (so-called tax havens) should be modified.
The Council removed two jurisdictions – Panama and Vietnam from the list.
The list was provided in Annex I of the Council conclusions on the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes.
Currently, the EU list of tax havens includes the following countries:
- American Samoa,
- Anguilla,
- Guam,
- Palau,
- Russian Federation,
- Turcs & Caicos,
- US Virgin Islands,
- Vanuatu.
In the Council’s assessment, Panama has now reformed its harmful foreign-source income exemption regime, whereas Vietnam completed a series of reforms. Consequently, both Panama and Vietnam have been removed from the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions and included in the list of jurisdictions that do not comply with all criteria, but that have committed to reform their domestic legislation to adhere to agreed tax good governance standards, included in a usual state of play document – the so-called “grey list” or Annex II.
It should be emphasized, however, that Panama remains listed in the implementing regulations issued pursuant to the Personal Income Tax Act and the Corporate Income Tax Act.
Furthermore, the Council of the European Union decided to remove Belize from Annex II, as Belize has recently received a positive rating from the Global Forum regarding its system for exchanging tax information on request.
Annex II now includes the following jurisdictions:
- British Virgin Islands,
- Brunei Darussalam,
- Eswatini,
- Greenland,
- Jordan,
- Montenegro,
- Morocco,
- Türkiye,
- Panama,
- Vietnam.
When will a transaction with “tax havens” become a tax scheme?
Pursuant to the provisions of the Polish Tax Ordinance, in case of payments, recognised as tax deductible costs, made to a related entity with its registered office, management board or place of residence in a country applying harmful tax competition (including those indicated in the EU list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes) a tax scheme should in principle be identified.
Notably, the prerequisite for the occurrence of a tax scheme in such a case is neither the occurrence of a tax advantage nor even an expectation related to achieving it. The value of the transaction also remains irrelevant (e.g. a transaction regarding goods worth 1 PLN may also be identified as a tax scheme).
Furthermore, it should be noted that the provisions relating to mandatory disclosure rules (i.e. reporting of tax schemes) independently define which entities should be considered as related.
Should you have any questions regarding the above-discussed issue, please do not hesitate to contact us.
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