On February 17, 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 added two jurisdictions – Turks and Caicos Islands and Vietnam – while removing three other – Fiji, Samoa, as well as Trinidad and Tobago – from the list due to all agreed international standards having been met by these jurisdictions.
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,
- Panama,
- Russian Federation,
- Trinidad and Tobago,
- Turcs & Caicos,
- US Virgin Islands,
- Vanuatu,
- Vietnam.
Furthermore, the Council decided to update a 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, which are included in a usual state of play document – the so-called “grey list” or Annex II. As a result, both Antigua and Barbuda, as well as Seychelles received positive rating from the Global Forum regarding their systems for exchanging tax information on request. These jurisdictions have fulfilled their obligations and will be removed from the state of play document. Brunei Darussalam, meanwhile, has been granted an additional six months to reform its foreign-source income exemption system, allowing it to implement the necessary changes to remove the country from the document.
Annex II now includes the following nine jurisdictions:
- Belize,
- the British Virgin Islands,
- Brunei Darussalam,
- Eswatini,
- Greenland,
- Jordan,
- Montenegro,
- Morocco,
- Türkiye.
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 activity leading 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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