Macao refutes EU's listing as non-cooperative taxation jurisdiction

MACAO, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government considers the decision of the European Union (EU) to include Macao on its list of non-cooperative taxation jurisdictions as being "unilateral and biased", an announcement by the SAR's Information Bureau said here on Wednesday.

The SAR government stressed that Macao is absolutely not a so-called "tax-avoidance haven," and added that the EU's decision did not take into consideration the actual situation in the SAR.

The announcement said Macao has closely engaged with the international community, including the EU and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), on matters relating to the fight against cross-border tax evasion and promotion of a fairer taxation system worldwide.

In addition, Macao is a member of the OECD's Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, a member of the OECD's Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting, which works to implement measures against such activities by all sorts of entities.

Macao's membership of these initiatives, which were approved after OECD evaluation, confirmed its taxation transparency and efforts regarding exchange of tax information, and confirmed the fact that Macao was working to comply with the latest international standards, the announcement added.

It also mentioned that Macao actively took part in the OECD's global cooperation initiatives and had joined hands with participating jurisdictions in pushing forward tax reforms and fighting against tax evasion.

Regarding local legislation on tax matters, the Law on Exchange of Information on Tax Matters was passed in the Legislative Assembly of Macao in May and the first automatic exchange of tax information is scheduled to be carried out next year.

The government said it is working diligently on the adoption in Macao of the OECD's Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters and on the optimization of local regulations regarding offshore activities. Enditem