INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION OF TAX ADMINISTRATIONS WILL BEGIN

Serbia was removed from the European gray list of tax jurisdictions, i.e. the list of jurisdictions that do not cooperate in tax matters. In July 2019, Serbia signed the Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters (MAC), which is 30.08.2019 endorsed by the Serbian Parliament and will be from effective 1.12.2019.

Specifically, in December 2017, the EU drafted a black and gray list of tax jurisdictions, after identifying ways companies and individuals seek to avoid tax obligations. A place on the gray or black list for countries means poorer reputation and tighter controls in transactions with the EU.

The EU Council of Ministers of Ministers also removed Albania, Switzerland, Costa Rica and Mauritius from the gray list. United Arab Emirates were removed from the black list, while the Marshall Islands switched from black to gray. Blacklisted countries are American Samoa, Belize, Fiji, Guam, Oman, Samoa, Trinidad and Tobago, Vanuatu and the US Virgin Islands.

The Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters was developed jointly by the OECD and the Council of Europe in 1988 and amended by Protocol in 2010. The Convention is the most comprehensive multilateral instrument available for all forms of tax co-operation to tackle tax evasion and avoidance.

The Convention facilitates international co-operation for a better operation of national tax laws, while respecting the fundamental rights of taxpayers. It provides for all possible forms of administrative co-operation between states in the assessment and collection of taxes. This co-operation ranges from exchange of information, including automatic exchanges, to the recovery of foreign tax claims.