St. Lucia introducing tax measures to deal with EU blacklisting

The government of St. Lucia says it will soon introduce new tax reform measures after the island-nation was included among 17 countries worldwide on a new global list of tax havens by the European Union (EU).

The country’s Minister of Finance, Ubaldus Raymond, said the new tax rules are likely to be unveiled in the new budget and denied that the island-nation is a tax haven.
Raymond said that St. Lucia has complied with all the requirements of international regulatory institutions and that Prime Minister Allen Chastanet signed the automatic exchange of information in November 2016.

Raymond said the main issue involves a harmonization of taxes which St Lucia is currently working to improve.

“St Lucia and other countries that were blacklisted, I want to make it clear, these were not institutions dodging the agreement or the requirements of these international institutions, but it had more to do with the imbalance in the tax regime.
“Fortunately for St. Lucia our Government, the prime minister, minister of finance, we have already been engaging our local departments, Ministry of Finance, Inland Revenue Department, in working on a more harmonized tax system,” Raymond said.

St. Lucia is among four Caribbean Community (CARICOM) countries named last week Tuesday in the new list of global tax havens. The other Caribbean countries are Barbados, Grenada and Trinidad & Tobago.

The other Caribbean countries listed as tax havens have also denounced the EU position and called for their removal as soon as possible. -(CMC)