Off the Blacklist

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The European Union has announced that it will remove South Korea from its tax haven blacklist along with seven other countries. The EU had named South Korea in its blacklist late last year but with this announcement, South Korea remains on its “gray list.”

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Korea was removed from the European Union's tax haven blacklist. It came 49 days after the European Union put Korea on the list late last year. Korea was accused of not being transparent with its taxation, such as exempting income and corporate taxes for foreign businesses that invest in free economic zones. The EU held a meeting of the economic and financial affairs council and decided to remove eight jurisdictions, including Korea, Macao, and Panama, from the tax haven blacklist. But these eight nations will remain on a so-called gray list, which is one level lower than the blacklist. They can be completely cleared of being tax havens only after they carry out institutional improvements in agreement with the EU. The EU plans to assess each country's tax policies every year before making black and gray lists and will lay out the disadvantages that would be imposed on the listed countries. However, it is not known in detail what kind of improvements Korea committed to in order to get itself off the list. Most of Korea's tax-related systems are subject to legislation, so political turmoil may take place while the National Assembly discusses what to fix and how.